Amos Hochstein, a senior advisor to United States President Joe Biden has described the ongoing conflict between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the Lebanon-Israel border as a “very serious situation.”
“We’ve seen an escalation over the past few weeks,” Hochstein told reporters in Beirut after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who frequently acts as a conduit between Washington and Hezbollah.
“The conflict along the Blue Line between Israel and Hezbollah has gone on for long enough,” Hochstein said.
“Innocent people are dying, property is damaged, families are shattered and the Lebanese economy continues to decline. The country is suffering for no good reason. It’s in everyone’s interest to resolve it quickly and diplomatically.”
Amos Hochstein
Hochstein expressed belief that there is still a “diplomatic path” to resolving the crisis.
Hochstein also called on the Palestinian militant group, Hamas to accept a Washington-backed proposed cease-fire and hostage exchange deal to end the war in Gaza, which he said could also bring the conflict in Lebanon to an end.
“What President Biden wants to do is to avoid a further escalation into a greater war,” the U.S envoy stated.
He added that the United States is working to prevent “a greater war” between Israel and Hezbollah.
Speaking on Tuesday during a trip to Lebanon, from where the Iran-linked armed group is engaged in low-level hostilities with Israel, Amos Hochstein said that the US is urgently seeking to calm a conflict that has been threatening to escalate since it started in October with the war in Gaza.
Hochstein’s trip to Lebanon came after his visit to Israel the day before. He held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog.
Herzog said in a post on X that the pair discussed the “incessant attacks” by Hezbollah in the country’s settlements in the north and the “urgent need to restore security” at the northern border.
Gallant’s office also said that the Minister “provided a situation assessment of developments on Israel’s northern border, emphasizing the daily attacks conducted by Hezbollah against Israel’s northern communities, and detailing efforts to thwart Hezbollah terrorists and infrastructure.”
“Minister Gallant and Mr Hochstein discussed the security situation at length and its impact on the region,” Gallant’s office added.
Hezbollah Releases Drone Surveillance Footage Of Haifa
Also on Tuesday, Hezbollah published a nine-minute 31 second-long video of what it says is drone footage gathered from its surveillance aircraft of locations in Israel, particularly in the city of Haifa, the port of Haifa and its surroundings.
Hezbollah released this video just a few hours after US Envoy Amos Hochstein concluded his visit to Beirut.
The footage, if confirmed as real, would underline the mounting difficulties Israel has encountered in dealing with the drone threat from Hezbollah, including several incidents where incoming drones were not detected by Israeli air defence systems, including a recent attack on a group of Israeli troops that killed one person.
Experts have assessed that Hezbollah is using a combination of tactics to avoid its drones being detected, including flying low and using multiple channels to avoid jamming technology.
The footage is in response to the Israeli threats of widening this conflict and launching an all-out war.
It is Hezbollah saying that it has the capabilities as well as sensitive intelligence information on sensitive military sites, and it is ready to fight the war.
The drone footage is being described by some as humiliation to Israel on how this drone was able to get all these detailed images from cities in northern Israel.
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