The UN Security Council welcomed on Friday the decision by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send a three-man team to the Middle East, calling for full cooperation from all concerned parties in the region.

Following an emergency meeting to discuss the escalating crisis in the Middle East, the 15-member council called on "all concerned states and parties to extend their full cooperation to the team," which has been tasked with a one-week mission to help defuse the crisis.

The two-hour long council session was requested by the Lebanese government, with the focus on the escalating violence between Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinians.

The three-member team to the Middle East, led by Annan's Special Political Adviser Vijay Nambiar, has now arrived in Cairo,a UN spokesperson reported, adding they will soon meet Egyptian Foreign Minister Abu Ghait and then the secretary-general of the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa. The team will then travel to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel.

"The Security Council looks forward to the earliest possible report of the team mission," said the statement.

The statement fell short of Beirut's demand to call for an immediate end to a massive Israeli offensive against its territory.

Lebanon had called on the council to "take a clear decision to establish a ceasefire and to end the aerial and sea blockade imposed on Lebanon."

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton blamed the current crisis in Gaza and Lebanon on Iran and Syria, particularly for their support of militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

"Syria and Iran must be held to account for supporting regional terrorism and their role in the current crisis," Bolton told the council meeting.