Under intense pressure from member states to act to halt escalating violence in Lebanon, the UN Security Council is trying to find a formula which would provide a sustainable solution.
Diplomats said the 15-member council would like to act unitedly to send a strong signal to the parties, but so far the consensus has eluded it with the US insisting that Hezbollah first release kidnapped Israeli soldiers and stop acts of terror against the Jewish state.
But several other members feel that working for ceasefire could be the beginning of efforts of finding a sustainable resolution and bringing peace to Lebanon.
So far as the suggestion of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for a stabilisation force is concerned, council diplomats say it would require a careful consideration to avoid it getting into a fight with Hezbollah.
The council members, they say, are aware of the danger of allowing the situation to deteriorate but a quick fix would not help either.
While the permanent members of the council -- the US, Britain, Russia, France and China -- negotiate at various levels in the United Nations and the capitals, diplomats do not expect the council to act before hearing from a high-level UN team, led by the top UN official Vijay Nambiar now in the region.
The UN team is expected to brief the council on return this week and serious negotiations might begin only after that.
Warning against danger of escalating fighting, the New York Times on Tuesday said the only beneficiaries from a wider war would be Iran, Syria and the armed radical groups they support throughout the region.
Stopping the fighting won't be easy but the dangers of escalation are too great to permit the major powers, or worried Arab leaders, to turn away, it said.
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