US special envoy hopes diplomacy will calm Lebanon-Israel border

US special envoy Amos Hochstein said on Thursday that he was hopeful that diplomacy could calm tensions on the border between Lebanon and Israel, Reuters has reported. The Israeli military and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the border for three months.

Hochstein met Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, foreign minister, army commander and speaker of parliament in an hours-long visit to Beirut today. “I firmly believe that the people of Lebanon do not want to see an escalation of the current crisis to further conflict,” he told reporters in the Lebanese capital.

Israeli shelling has killed at least 25 Lebanese civilians and 140 Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon. At least nine Israeli troops have been killed in northern Israel.

Hochstein went to Israel last week for talks on the issue. “I’m hopeful that we can continue to work on this effort to arrive together, all of us on both sides of the border, with a solution that will allow for all people in Lebanon and Israel to live with guaranteed security and return to a better future,” he said. The US, the envoy added, “would like to see a diplomatic solution… it is our job to get one.”

Washington fears that Israel’s military offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza could spread violence across the region, with armed groups backed by Israel’s arch-rival Iran launching solidarity attacks in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Israel has said it is giving a chance for diplomacy to prevent Hezbollah firing on people living in the north of the occupation state, and to push Hezbollah back from the border. If these aims are not achieved, it warned that the Israeli army will take whatever action is necessary.

Hezbollah has said it does not seek to initiate a wider war, but that it would not hold back if Israel waged a broader assault on Lebanon, whose caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, has said his country is ready for talks on long-term stability on its southern border with Israel.

READ: Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike in southern Lebanon