Israel has protested to France over what it regards as unbalanced criticism from Paris of recent Israeli air strikes into Lebanon.

The protest note was handed to a top French foreign ministry official Yves Aubin de la Messuziere who arrived in Israel after visiting Syria and Lebanon in an effort to ease tensions.

The outgoing Israeli foreign minister, Ariel Sharon, refused to meet him.

In the protest note, Mr Sharon complained that the initial French response to the Israeli raids, which killed eight Lebanese, had failed to mention earlier rocket attacks from Lebanon in which two Israelis died. He said Israel expected a more balanced approach from a nation which chairs the five-nation committee overseeing the truce agreements between Israel and Lebanon.

The French envoy also failed to see the Israeli prime minister-elect, Ehud Barak, who said he would not involve himself in diplomacy until he was in office.