Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers, both of them in Lebanon in an effort to stop the ongoing violence in the country, called on Wednesday for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon's Shiite group Hezbollah.

After respective meeting with Lebanese officials, both ministers said that an immediate ceasefire must be achieved as soon as possible because it was a necessary precondition to ending the conflict.

Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdul Ilah al-Khatib expressed his country's support for Lebanese government and people, saying Jordan has been backing them in all possible ways since the outbreak of the conflict.

On his part, al-Khatib's Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit also extended Egypt's support to its Lebanese siblings by saying that the people of Egypt will stand closely side-by-side with the people of Lebanon.

Meanwhile, he warned of a danger of widening conflict if Syria was engulfed.

"It was possible that the conflict could spread to Syria," Abul Gheit said, adding that "But we hope that matters don't reach that point. We hope that in the coming few days or the coming few hours a cease-fire will be reached."

"We are very close to reaching a ceasefire," he announced voicing his hope that the UN would be able to pass a ceasefire resolution within the next 48 to 72 hours.

The two ministers, whose countries have peace treaties with Israel, arrived in Beirut on military planes carrying humanitarian aid on Wednesday, a day after Israel launched airborne operations in both southern and eastern Lebanon as its 48-hour suspension of aerial bombardments expired on Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua