The G8 summit in St Petersburg has been well and truly hijacked by events. This in itself is not a disaster. It is doubtful whether another day’s talking would have improved the vague and sweeping generalities contained in the three communiqués rushed out yesterday to address the summit’s original priorities — climate change, education and the fight against infectious diseases. Furthermore, when a crisis such as the current violence in the Middle East explodes, it is no bad thing that four-fifths of the UN Security Council are dining with each other. The remaining fifth, China, though lacking G8 club membership, is in town and has had its name left on the door.

But with bloodshed in the Middle East showing little sign of abating, there are limits on what the leaders ensconced in St Petersburg’s ornate splendour can achieve in the short term, and especially when the host is in such irascible mood. President Putin was overcome twice in a single day by the diplomatic equivalent of a Zidane moment. His decision to head-butt President Bush over Iraq and knee Tony Blair in the groin over Lord Levy speaks volumes about his defensiveness over the shortcomings of Russian democracy and corruption. That Mr Putin should deliver such obviously premeditated insults to two men who have invested huge amounts of time and capital trying to sell him to sceptics may have tickled his domestic audience but it irked his guests.

The Middle East is not an issue that can be solved over a weekend on the Gulf of Finland when none of the principal parties is present. But those that are there must appreciate that what is unfolding on the Lebanese/Israeli border will, if unchecked, tilt the geopolitical balance seriously.

Israelis living within a few miles of the Gaza Strip have been subjected to rocket attacks for years. Even though these are increasing, a death toll of eight since 2000 has meant that the Qassam rocket has grabbed few international headlines. But the missiles flying over Israel’s northern border are another matter. A single Hezbollah rocket, possibly one of its souped-up Katyushas, killed eight people in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, yesterday. Iranian-made Fajers can travel far enough to unsettle Tel Aviv, which is on rocket alert for the first time.

To allow Iran, Hezbollah’s puppet master and a regime that believes Israel should be wiped off the map, and Syria such deadly influence in the region is a recipe for disaster. The Lebanese people are clearly not enamoured by the presence of Hezbollah guerrillas in the south of their country. But their Government needs help and political cover from the international community if it is to evict them.

Its cause domestically is not helped when Israeli bombs stray off target and kill Lebanese civilians, though any attempt to equate Israel’s efforts to hit terrorist targets with Hezbollah’s targeting of Israeli civilians is wildly misplaced. As Mr Bush and Condoleezza Rice both said yesterday, Israel needs to be acutely mindful of the consequences to innocent life and civic infrastructure, and therefore local politics, of its bombs. But Dr Rice was also right to say that an immediate ceasefire would not resolve the underlying problems, even though it would be desirable. Realpolitik demands action against Hezbollah — it is hardly in the long-term interest of either Lebanon or Syria to have a heavily armed extremist group in their midst.