Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said Wednesday that he saw no progress or immediate headway in the ongoing international efforts to settle the conflict between his country and Israel.

"There is no progress so far. We are still at the same place," he told media after talks with U.S. Middle East envoy David Welch, who made a surprise visit to Beirut on Wednesday.

It is impossible for the UN Security Council to adopt any resolution on the Lebanon-Israel conflict at least in two days, according to the prime minister.

Welch declined to comment on his talks with Siniora. But the envoy promised that the United States is trying its utmost to defuse the crisis.

Siniora deplored the stalled international efforts when no results came out of discussions on changes to a draft Security Council resolution drawn up by France and the United States.

Lebanon and Arab nations opposed the original text, saying it did not call for Israel to withdraw its troops or require it to stop any offensive operations.

Washington wants Beirut to deploy government troops to the border with Israel to ensure no attacks from Hezbollah guerrillas who have controlled the region since Israeli pullback in 2000 from southern Lebanon.

Israel still holds the Shebaa Farms area it seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, a hot spot for cross-border fire between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in recent years.

On July 26, Siniora put forward a seven-point proposal, calling for an immediate ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal, exchange of prisoners of war and the handover of Shebaa Farms to the United Nations.

The conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah erupted on July 12 when Israel started a retaliatory military offensive after a Hezbollah cross-border attack killed several soldiers and seized two others.

Around 1,000 Lebanese and more than 100 Israelis have been killed in the conflict.

Source: Xinhua