Senior US official on Israeli visit to ease tensions with Hezbollah after assassination of Hamas leader

By Muhammed Emin Canik

ISTANBUL (AA) – In the wake of the recent assassination of a senior Hamas official in Beirut, US envoy Amos Hochstein reportedly traveled to Israel to ease the escalating tensions with Hezbollah, an Israeli newspaper reported early Thursday.

The Biden administration is intensifying diplomatic efforts to reduce the tension between Israel and Hezbollah, according to the Times of Israel, citing a high-ranking anonymous US official.

The US official said Hochstein, President Joe Biden's senior advisor, is set to arrive in Israel on Thursday to mitigate the heightened tension following the assassination of a top Hamas executive in Beirut.

It is reported that Israeli officials plan to convey to Hochstein that without a diplomatic agreement to distance Hezbollah from the border, residents living in conflict-stricken areas near the border will not be able to return to their homes.

Hamas’ Political Bureau Deputy Chairman Saleh al-Arouri and six others were killed Tuesday in an Israeli drone attack in the Dahieh district of Beirut, referred to as Hezbollah's stronghold.

Israel hopes a potential agreement to move Hezbollah away from the border might initiate discussions to determine the land borders between Israel and Lebanon, according to another Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

As per The Times of Israel, an anonymous official from the Biden administration expressed the belief that Hezbollah is not eager to engage in a war with Israel based on the information available.

“I think from everything that we can tell, there is no clear desire from Hezbollah to go to war with Israel, and vice versa,” the senior administration official said.

Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of the Hezbollah Movement in Lebanon, commenting on the killing of Arouri in Beirut, said: “We cannot remain silent about this. This crime will not go unanswered and unpunished.”

“So far, we have taken into account Lebanon's interests. However, if war is declared against Lebanon, our interests will require us to pursue the war to the end.”

- ‘Lebanon seeks no war’

Expressing his efforts to persuade Hezbollah to step back from escalating tensions with Israel, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said Lebanon seeks no war and acknowledges the potential spread of conflicts in the border region between Israel and Hezbollah.

In an interview with CNN, Bou Habib said: "It is not like we can order them. We are not claiming that but we can convince them and I think it is working in this direction."

Bou Habib also accused Israel of being responsible for the recent explosions in Iran where a ceremony was being held to commemorate a top Iranian general who was assassinated four years ago by the US.

The explosions took place on a route leading to the cemetery in the southeastern city of Kerman where Qassem Soleimani, the former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, was laid to rest.

At least 103 people were killed, according to Sayyed Mohammad Saberi, head of the city's Emergency Organization.

Soleimani was killed on Jan 3, 2020, in a US drone strike outside Baghdad airport in Iraq.