Jordan's King Says Arab Moderates Change

A Jordanian woman holds a poster and a Lebanese flag during a solidarity protest with the Lebanese people in front of the Lebanese Embassy in Amman, Jordan, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006. (AP Photo/Nader Daoud) (Nader Daoud - AP)

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said after meeting with Syria's president in Damascus that Syria indicated it could be willing to help negotiate with Hezbollah.

Syria, which shares a border with Lebanon, is one of Hezbollah's primary benefactors, along with Iran.

"They (the Syrians) are going to exercise all their influence on Hezbollah, but the circumstances and political and military context of Lebanon must change," Moratinos told reporters.

But in Malaysia, Iran's hard-line president told an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders that the solution to the Mideast crisis was to destroy Israel.

"Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the Organization of Islamic Conference _ the Islamic world's largest grouping of countries.

The gathering demanded an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon and urged the United Nations to investigate what it called flagrant human rights violations by Israel.

Abdullah said he has been in touch with the Bush administration to explain the dangers of the Israeli military operation in Lebanon.

"Unfortunately, what we initially sensed from those contacts was not encouraging," he said. "What they wanted was a package of solutions that guarantee Israel's security and push back Hezbollah off the Israeli borders."

Later Thursday, Abdullah urged a "unified Arab position" on the conflict. He did not elaborate, but made his remarks during a meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, who is on a regional tour that will also take him to Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

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Associated Press writers Shafika Mattar in Amman, Albert Aji in Damascus and Maggie Michael in Cairo contributed to this report.