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A top US official is on a diplomatic mission to the Middle East in an effort to prevent an all-out war from breaking out between Israel and Hezbollah.
US envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in Israel on Monday and talked with key Israeli figures, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. According to the Israeli government, Hochstein received “a situation assessment of developments on Israel’s northern border, emphasizing the daily attacks conducted by Hezbollah against Israel’s northern communities and detailing the [Israeli military’s] efforts to thwart Hezbollah terrorists and infrastructure.”
Hochstein is also conducting indirect negotiations with Hezbollah through Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, aiming for a preliminary agreement to end hostilities.
Hochstein’s arrival follows weeks of warnings about a new war between Israel and Hezbollah (in Lebanon), which continues to grow by the day. In recent weeks, Hezbollah increased its attacks on Israel following the death of a senior commander in an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon. While the group had been targeting Israeli military sites nearly every day since the Gaza conflict erupted, no new attacks were reported over the recent Eid al-Adha holiday.
The Biden administration has been vocal about avoiding an escalation and has proposed various diplomatic resolutions to resolve current tensions. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller previously said, “There is a diplomatic framework that we believe is reachable that would resolve this conflict without a full-on war.”
Not his first rodeo:
Hochstein, who was considered a pivotal figure for brokering a maritime border deal between Lebanon and Israel in 2022, has become a lead negotiator in the ongoing situation in the region.
