U.S., European and Arab mediators are pressing to keep stepped-up cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants from spiraling into a wider Middle East war that the world has feared for months. Hopes are lagging for a cease-fire in Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza that would calm attacks by Hezbollah and other Iranian-allied militias. With that in mind, American and European diplomats are warning Hezbollah about taking on the military might of Israel. Escalating strikes between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to at least level off this past week. But a former U.S. diplomat in the Middle East says Israelis still seem to be arranging themselves for “an entirely different magnitude of conflict.”
