Many Nations Urge Israel Not to Retaliate for Missile Attack : Diplomacy: They fear a split in the coalition. Greece, Belgium expel Iraqi envoys. Most Arab states are silent.

Governments around the world, including most of the allies in the international coalition ranged against Iraq, joined the United States in asking Israel not to retaliate after Iraqi missiles struck the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa early Friday morning.

Despite the widespread condemnation, Iraq launched a second round of missiles at Israel this morning Tel Aviv time.

More than 20 countries, including 13 in Europe, condemned the first Iraqi attack. The German government in Bonn termed the Scud missile attack on civilian population centers a “severe act of aggression against a noncombatant country.” Argentine President Carlos Saul Menem called it “another demented act by Saddam Hussein.”

The government of Greece expelled 23 Iraqi Embassy personnel, giving them only 24 hours to leave the country. Belgium ordered seven of nine Iraqi diplomats in Brussels to leave, citing “security reasons.”

Like the United States, most countries expressed fear that Israeli retaliation could split the 28-nation coalition formed against Iraq and urged Israel to show restraint.

“Up to now, Israel has already demonstrated an extraordinary cool-headedness,” commented French Foreign Ministry spokesman Daniel Bernard after the first attack. “To fall for the provocation this time would be playing the game of the enemy.”

In Moscow, a statement from the Soviet government described the initial missile barrage as “an attempt to transform the Kuwait problem into a regional confrontation, to light a fire in the Middle East.”

Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander M. Belonogov called on Israel to “demonstrate its control and not give in to the provocation.”

Most of the Arab states were noticeably silent after the first Iraqi missile attack. Syrian announcers did report the attack near the end of their morning news broadcast but made no comment. With 20,000 troops in Saudi Arabia, Syria is considered the military ally in the gulf most likely to leave the coalition if its archenemy Israel enters the conflict.

Like President Bush, several European leaders said they talked with Israeli leaders Friday in an effort to prevent a large-scale Israeli reaction to the first missile attack. According to a spokesman, French President Francois Mitterrand telephoned Israeli President Chaim Herzog in the morning to express his “strong emotions” in the wake of the attack.

Speaking at the House of Commons, British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd argued that Israelis could claim a public relations victory if they decided not to respond to the Iraqi aggression.

“We understand fully the anger of the Israeli government and people and their responsibility for the defense of their country,” Hurd said. “We have asked them to understand in turn the need to retain the greatest possible support for the military action being undertaken against Iraq, including among the Arab nations who have joined us in that action or who support it.”

He continued: “Israel has the right of self-defense, and no one can take this decision from them. But we believe that restraint by Israel at this time would be interpreted as strength, not weakness, given the powerful operation now under way against Iraq in pursuit of the objectives laid down by the United Nations.”

Likewise, a statement from the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry said the government was “counting on the wisdom and the reserve of Israel to keep the war limited to its fundamental objective.”

Most of the governments were reacting to one of the most common nightmare scenarios in the gulf conflict: that by attacking Israel, Saddam Hussein would draw the Israeli military into the war and place Arab allies in the awkward, possibly untenable position of fighting another Arab state at the side of Israel.

German government spokesman Dieter Vogel said in a morning press briefing in Bonn: “The German government believes any involvement of Israel in the gulf conflict would increase tension in the Middle East enormously and thus reduce the chance for a swift end to the conflict.”

In the months leading up to the war, Hussein made no secret of his strategy. He repeatedly announced his intention to attack Israel first if Iraq were attacked by coalition forces.

Despite Syria’s silence on the matter, it is not certain that Arab partners in the coalition would bolt in the face of an Israeli retaliation, particularly if the response were measured and kept to limited objectives, observers say.

While most countries called for “restraint” on the part of Israel, others, notably China, asked for “moderation”--suggesting that a limited Israeli response would be understandable in the face of Iraqi provocation.

One of the few Arab officials to comment was the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed A. Abulhasan.

“I hope there would not be an Israeli reaction,” he said. “If there is, it complicates the matter but we should not exaggerate the complication.”

In a front-page editorial commenting on the attack, entitled “The Trap,” the French newspaper Le Monde argued that the Iraqi missile attack was evidence that Hussein is attempting to accomplish militarily what he had so far failed to accomplish politically: “move Jerusalem to the epicenter of the crisis.”

“Rarely has a military action been so obviously political,” the editorial asserted.

Times staff writers Tyler Marshall in Bonn, Joel Havemann in Brussels and Elizabeth Shogren in Moscow also contributed to this report.