Israel says to devote 'long weeks' to reaching an arrangement with Hezbollah
A senior Israeli official on Tuesday said Israel and the United States will devote an unspecified number of weeks to trying to reach a new arrangement with Hezbollah before resorting to other means to bring calm to the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israel's low-level conflict with the Lebanese group has escalated in recent weeks, raising fears of an all-out war.
“We will now dedicate long weeks … in an attempt to reach an arrangement” along the border, Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said.
Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas shortly after the Palestinian militants’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza. Israel has responded with airstrikes and artillery shelling, and the low-intensity conflict has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border.
Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, an annual gathering of policymakers and analysts, Hanegbi said Hezbollah may find “a kind of ladder to climb down” as Israel shifts to less intensive operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“If there is no arrangement through diplomatic means, everybody understands that an arrangement is required through other means. But currently we prefer to focus on the diplomatic campaign," he said.
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein met with Lebanese and Israeli leaders the week before to try to calm tensions. Hezbollah has said it will continue its attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.
Source: Associated Press
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