Washington seeks to contain the war between Hezbollah and Israel by sending an official to Beirut
U.S. efforts come amid escalating tensions in southern Lebanon after the assassination of prominent leaders of Hezbollah
A U.S. official said late yesterday that White House Senior Advisor Amos Hochstein is expected to visit Beirut today, Thursday, as part of U.S. efforts to ease tensions on the border between Israel and Lebanon after successive assassinations targeting the Hezbollah group, with the latest being the leader Hussein Barji, commander of the air unit.
Washington fears the extension of Israel‘s war in Gaza to other regions, amid solidarity attacks by armed groups allied with Iran in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Hezbollah, the Lebanese group, exchanges gunfire with the Israeli army across the southern borders of Lebanon since the attack launched by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Israel three months ago.
Israel responded with a fierce and extensive attack on the Gaza Strip. The violence on the borders forced tens of thousands on both sides to flee.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati told a senior UN official on Tuesday that his country is ready for talks to achieve long-term stability on its southern borders with Israel.
Hochstein, the U.S. energy envoy, raised the possibility last year of holding talks on demarcating the land borders between Israel and Lebanon after mediating in a 2022 agreement to demarcate the maritime borders between the two sides. Israel says it is leaving room for diplomacy to prevent Hezbollah from firing across the borders and to keep the group’s fighters away, or else the Israeli army will take action to achieve these goals.
More than 130 Hezbollah members in Lebanon have been killed in the fighting. Hezbollah says it is not seeking a widespread war but warns that it will not stand idly by if Israel starts a war.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned of the repercussions of the war’s expansion amid mutual shelling between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, as well as Houthi attacks in the Red Sea during his Middle East tour to ease tensions. France, in turn, played a role in delivering messages to Lebanon about the need to contain any war after several French officials visited Beirut after the outbreak of the Gaza war.
Israeli Defense Minister Yair Golan threatened last week to make Beirut a copy of Gaza if a widespread war broke out with Hezbollah, while the Iranian side responded that it would not stand idly by if the fighting expanded to include other countries.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army attacked a military compound in the town of “Naqoura” in the border area, where rockets were launched towards Israeli sites, near the Lebanese border.
The army added that it attacked “infrastructure for militants” and a military compound near the town of “Labouneh” in southern Lebanon. In turn, Hezbollah occasionally launches rockets towards northern Israel, targeting the headquarters of the Northern Region Command in Safed.
