US envoy: Israel, Lebanon both prefer ‘diplomatic solution’ to border hostilities
In Beirut to calm escalating tensions, Amos Hochstein stresses both Israeli and Lebanese civilians on border need to be able to return to their homes

Both Lebanon and Israel “prefer” a diplomatic deal to end hostilities on the border, US envoy Amos Hochstein said Thursday, amid an escalation of violence along the border that has seen almost daily Hezbollah attacks and exchanges of fire since the Gaza war began.
“We need to find a diplomatic solution that will allow for the Lebanese people to return to their homes in south Lebanon… as the people of Israel need to be able to return to their homes in their north,” Hochstein told reporters in Beirut.
After a visit to Israel, Hochstein on Thursday met top Lebanese officials in Beirut, amid fears that the Gaza war, sparked by Hamas’s deadly October 7 massacres, could spread across the region.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in four civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of nine IDF soldiers. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 161 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing clashes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 19 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 19 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.
Tens of thousands of civilians have also been displaced by the violence on either side of the frontier.

“We’re living in a crisis moment where we would like to see a diplomatic solution and I believe that both sides prefer a diplomatic solution,” the US envoy said, adding: “It’s our job to get one.”
Hochstein, US President Joe Biden’s special coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security, sat down with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the powerful parliament speaker Nabih Berri and army chief Joseph Aoun.
In October 2022, Hochstein brokered what Biden called a “historic” maritime accord between Israel and Lebanon, which have no diplomatic relations, paving the way for both countries to exploit offshore gas reserves.
In a televised interview earlier this week, Mikati said a potential deal to curb tensions along the border with Israel may be “linked” to the fighting raging in the besieged Gaza Strip.
“We are working on a diplomatic solution to the situation in the south, and its implementation will perhaps be linked to ending the assault on Gaza,” he said.
Last week, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah hailed “a historic opportunity” to help Lebanon regain control of disputed border land, “after this phase [of fighting] ends and after the aggression on Gaza.”
The same day, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his government “prefers a diplomatic path over a military one,” but warned: “We are close to the point of the hourglass turning over.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.