US mediator in Beirut tries to contain escalation of conflict with Israel

North American mediator Amos Hochstein began a series of meetings with Lebanese authorities in Beirut yesterday in an attempt to contain tensions between the Shiite movement Hezbollah and Israel.

Hochstein arrived at the residence of Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is also the leader of the Shiite group Amal, one of Hezbollah’s main allies, for the first official meeting of the day, after which he is expected to make a statement to the media.

Fears of open conflict in Lebanon have risen again following an Israeli attack two weeks ago on Hezbollah top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut and the death of the political leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

The American adviser, who brokered a historic deal between Lebanon and Israel to demarcate their maritime border in 2022, has visited the Lebanese capital several times since fighting between Hezbollah and the Jewish state began last October.

The last displacement occurred in mid-June, coinciding with an intensification of border clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, and just days after a senior Shiite commander in southern Lebanon was killed in a bomb attack.

During that visit, Hochstein said “a ceasefire in Gaza or other diplomatic solution could also end the conflict along the Blue Line,” the border between Israel and Lebanon drawn by the United Nations in June 2000.

Two-in-one

Since October 8, 2023, one day after the outbreak of the Gaza War, Israel and Hezbollah have been involved in fierce cross-border fighting, the most serious conflict between the two sides since 2006.

Hezbollah is part of the so-called “axis of resistance,” an alliance led by Iran that also includes the Palestinian extremist group Hamas and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Yesterday’s visit by the US mediator came on the eve of a meeting in Doha or Cairo, where the US, Qatar and Egypt aim to force a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which could also prevent military action in Lebanon.

Hamas has said it will not participate in ceasefire talks and has demanded a “clear commitment” from the Israeli government, which would put forward new requirements for a ceasefire agreement.