US envoy Amos Hochstein talks with caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Nagib Mikati (R) at the Grand Serail, Nov. 7, 2023. (Credit: AFP/Joseph Eid)
BEIRUT — During an unannounced visit to Beirut on Tuesday, US envoy Amos Hochstein called for a "return to calm" on the southern Lebanese border— the scene of month-long violence between Israel and Hezbollah.
"The United States does not want to see the conflict in Gaza escalate and spill over into Lebanon," said Hochstein after a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
"Restoring calm to the southern border is of the utmost importance to the United States and should be the top priority for both Lebanon and Israel," he added.
Hochstein also stressed the need to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701 — adopted after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah — which calls on the Lebanese government to extend its authority over the entire country and to disarm Hezbollah.
Hochstein then held talks with caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in the presence of caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea.
The American envoy also met Lebanese Army commander-in-chief General Joseph Aoun, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA). The two reportedly "discussed the developments in South Lebanon."
Hochstein also met with former General Security Director Abbas Ibrahim but no public statement statements were made, according to the NNA.
The Grand Serail announced in a statement that Hochstein informed Mikati that he was sent by US President Joe Biden to address the situation in southern Lebanon. Hochstein said his discussions "made it clear that neither Lebanon nor Israel want escalation," the Serail statement added. The American envoy again insisted on the full implementation of UN Resolution 1701.
"The discussion focused on the search for a humanitarian truce in Gaza, before moving on to another stage," the statement concluded.
The border between Lebanon and Israel has been the scene of daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah since Oct. 7. Hezbollah is targeting Israeli positions on the border, while Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have carried out infiltration operations and launched several rockets from Lebanon.
Israel has responded by bombing southern Lebanon.
Since Oct. 7, 83 people have been killed on the Lebanese side and eight on the Israeli side, according to an AFP count. Among the dead on the Lebanese side are 61 Hezbollah fighters and at least 11 civilians, including a woman and her three daughters between the ages 10 and 14 who were killed in a Sunday strike that targeted their car.
On the Israeli side, six soldiers and two civilians have been killed, according to the authorities.
On Tuesday, hundreds of residents of the southern Lebanese village of Blida attended the funerals of the four victims, who were family members of a journalist who was injured during the same attack while driving ahead of them in a separate car.
In his first speech since the start of the conflict, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on Friday said that "all options" were on the table, and that the possibility of "all-out war" was "realistic."
Nasrallah also warned Israel against the mistake of attacking Lebanon, adding that halting the "aggression against Gaza" would prevent a regional conflict.
The war, which entered its second month on Tuesday, has already claimed more than 10,000 lives in Gaza.
CORRECTION: Due to a translation error, an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Hochstein told Mikati that an American delegation will soon visit Lebanon to discuss the security situation in the south. No such delegation is expected.
