From the Liveblog of
Thursday, January 4, 2024
US dispatching senior envoy Hochstein to cool simmering tensions on Lebanon border
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Amos Hochstein, US President Joe Biden’s special envoy, is set to arrive in Israel tomorrow, a senior Biden administration official says, as the US intensifies its diplomatic engagement to lower tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israeli officials plan to tell Hochstein that without a diplomatic agreement in place to shove Hezbollah away from the border, it won’t be able to return residents to northern towns, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
According to a report in Ynet earlier this week, Israel is hoping the agreement will lead to talks on setting an official border between the countries, which have only a ceasefire line and technically remain in a state of war.
Hochstein was heavily involved in shepherding talks that culminated in Israel and Lebanon demarcating a maritime border in 2022.
A senior Biden administration official briefing reporters says he just met with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and that the US has a “diplomatic effort underway to help resolve some of the tension” between Israel and Hezbollah, without elaborating further.
