The European Union (EU) should engage Syria and Iran "in an active and positive manner in the search of a solution" to conflicts in Lebanon, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said two days after the Rome conference.

In an interview with the French daily Le Monde in its Friday edition, the Italian Foreign Minister said: "It is important that Syria and Iran help us to resolve the problems."

"At the meeting of European foreign ministers on August 1, we must ask ourselves how to develop an initiative which engages these two countries in an active and positive manner in the search of a solution," he said.

On Wednesday, 15 nations attended a crisis conference on the Israeli-Lebanese conflict in Rome. Neither Israel, nor Iran, nor Syria were present.

Source: Xinhua