U.S. envoy in Lebanon to try and head off larger war

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military says it has “approved and validated” operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon as months of fighting with Hezbollah terrorists, the Arab world’s most significant paramilitary force, threaten to spiral into a full-blown war.

The military statement did not promise an imminent Israeli offensive in Lebanon — any plans must still be vetted by Israel’s leaders. The military did not specify what the plans entailed.

The statement came as a senior adviser to President Joe Biden described the ongoing conflict between the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the Lebanon-Israel border as a “very serious situation” and said Tuesday on a visit to Beirut that efforts to find a diplomatic solution to head off a larger war are urgent.

Amos Hochstein met with officials in Lebanon after visiting Israel the day before.

“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. “What President Biden wants to do is to avoid a further escalation into a greater war.”

Hochstein also called on the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas to accept a Washington-backed proposal for a 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.

As Hochstein met with officials in Beirut, Hezbollah launched four projectiles toward Israel on Tuesday afternoon, breaking three days of relative calm.

The Israeli military said all of the launches were intercepted, although debris from an explosive drone started a brush fire near the border, according to the Israeli Fire and Rescue Services.

Also on Tuesday, state media in Lebanon reported an Israeli drone strike on a car on the highway north of the coastal city of Tyre. It wasn’t immediately clear who was in the car or how many people were killed or injured.

Cross-border attacks by Israel and Hezbollah have been taking place almost daily since a Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7 started the war in Gaza.

The attacks escalated dramatically a week ago, after Israel killed a high-ranking Hezbollah commander in a strike on south Lebanon. Hezbollah stepped up its own attacks on northern Israel in response. Some Israeli leaders have threatened all-out war to silence Hezbollah’s rocket fire.

The fighting has displaced tens of thousands on each side of the border. Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed over 400 people since October, most of them terrorists with Hezbollah and allied groups. On the Israeli side, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed.