Senior adviser to US President Joe Biden Amos Hochstein will travel to Beirut and Tel Aviv to try to prevent a recent escalation between Israel and Hezbollah from turning into an all-out war.
He will first head to Tel Aviv on Monday before flying to Beirut. The unscheduled visit underscores Washington’s efforts to prevent Israel from expanding its war on Gaza to southern Lebanon.
As it stands, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his military commanders are ignoring Washington’s pleas.
The American administration still holds Hezbollah responsible for the current escalation, a western source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
It added that there is no justification for expanding the conflict, although Hezbollah has intensified its attacks against Israel in retaliation to its assassination of one of its most prominent field commanders, Taleb Sami al-Abdullah.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Lebanon Liz Johnson had held talks with caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib about the developments in the South and efforts to contain the tensions.
She warned that Washington will not provide political cover should the conflict expand.
Bou Habib, for his part, said Lebanon has received warnings that Israel intended to expand the war. Warnings have also poured in from several countries, urging restraint and against Lebanon getting dragged to war.
Parliamentary sources quoted influential American circles as saying that Netanyahu is ignoring the White House’s advice against expanding the war.
They believe that restoring calm in the South starts with a ceasefire in Gaza. The conflict in the South began when Hezbollah launched attacks against Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza.
