LEBANON  –  The United States is working to prevent “a greater war” between Israel and Hezbollah, a White House envoy has said amid growing fears of an major conflict between the two sides..

Speaking on Tuesday during a trip to Lebanon, from where the Iran-aligned armed group is engaged in near daily clashes with Israel, Amos Hochstein said that the US is urgently seeking to calm a conflict that has been threatening to escalate since it started in October with the war in Gaza.

Hezbollah and Israel have regularly traded fire across the Israel-Lebanon border over the last eight months. Last week, the Lebanese group fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israeli military sites after one of its commanders was killed.

Speaking after meeting with Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, Hochstein called for “urgent” de-escalation.

“We have seen an escalation over the last few weeks. And what President Biden wants to do is avoid a further escalation to a greater war,” Hochstein told reporters.

The US envoy had travelled to Beirut following meetings in Israel on Monday. Israel’s Haaretz reported that he had warned Israeli officials that continuing the Israeli-Hezbollah confrontation could lead to a “wide-scale Iranian attack”.

In Beirut, Hochstein said it is in “everyone’s interest” to resolve the conflict quickly and diplomatically. “That is both achievable and it is urgent.”

Hochstein’s visit came Hezbollah unilaterally suspended its attacks for two days during the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday, which began last Sunday. But that pause ended on Tuesday with Hezbollah saying that it targeted an Israeli tank with a suicide drone.

The Lebanese group also released a nine-minute video of what it said was footage its surveillance drones brought back from Israel. The video showed and identified military facilities in the north of the country as well as key infrastructure in Haifa – Israel’s third largest city – including a power plant.

Hezbollah has said it will not halt its attacks into northern Israel unless there is a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that “one way or another, we will restore security to the north,” and his hardline nationalist coalition partners have called for an aggressive military response. (Al Jazeera)…[+]