Russia calls for Middle East to step back from the brink of war

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia on Wednesday condemned the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and called on all parties to refrain from steps that could tip the Middle East into a major war.

Hamas's Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of the morning in Iran, the Palestinian militant group said, drawing fears of wider escalation in a region shaken by Israel's war in Gaza and a worsening conflict on the Israel-Lebanon border.

"We strongly condemn the murder of the head of the political bureau of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, as a result of a rocket attack on his residence in Tehran," Andrei Nastasin, deputy spokesman of Russia's foreign ministry told reporters.

"It is obvious that the organisers of this political assassination were aware of the dangerous consequences this action is fraught with for the entire region."

Russia, he said, had paid attention to the fact that the killing took place in Iran.

"We urge all parties involved to exercise restraint and abandon any steps that could lead to a dramatic degradation of the security situation in the region and provoke a large-scale armed confrontation," Nastasin said.

Russia also condemned an Israeli attack on Lebanon that killed Hezbollah's most senior commander in an airstrike on Beirut on Tuesday.

"We strongly condemn the military action carried out by Israel, which constitutes a gross violation of Lebanese sovereignty and basic norms of international law," Nastasin said.

"We express our deep concern about the growing threat of a sharp escalation of the situation in the Middle East against this background."

Russia, which has forged close ties both with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Arab leaders such as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has repeatedly scolded the West for ignoring the need for an independent Palestinian state within 1967 borders.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Alex Richardson)