On Tuesday, Hochstein, who serves as a mediator between Israel and Lebanon, arrived in Beirut and held a meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. On Monday, the US official visited Jerusalem, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The conflict along the blue line [border demarcation] between Israel and Hezbollah has gone on for long enough … Conversations that I had here today in Beirut, and the ones that I had yesterday in Israel, both are being conducted because the situation is serious. We have seen an escalation over the last few weeks. And what president Biden wants to do is to avoid a further escalation to a greater war," Hochstein told reporters following his talks with Lebanese authorities.
The ceasefire in the Gaza Strip can contribute to the de-escalation between Israel and the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah on the border between the Jewish state and Lebanon, he added.
Israeli forces and Hezbollah in Lebanon have been exchanging fire, primarily over the southern border, ever since Hamas’ October 7 attack against Israel, leading to hundreds of deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians.