BEIRUT: Visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein on Tuesday urged for calm to return to Lebanon's southern border with Israel, after weeks of skirmishes following the start of the war in Gaza.
"The United States does not want to see conflict in Gaza escalating and expanding into Lebanon," Hochstein told a press conference in Beirut.
"Restoring calm along the southern border is of utmost importance to the United States and it should be the highest priority for both Lebanon and Israel," he added.
Since October 7, Lebanon's southern border has seen intensifying tit-for-tat exchanges, stoking fears of a broader conflagration.
Israel has been striking the Lebanon's south and sending reconnaissance drones across the border, according to the official National News Agency (NNA).
UN Security Council Resolution 1701 ended the 2006 war and called for the removal of weapons in southern Lebanon from the hands of everyone except the Lebanese army and other state security forces.
Hochstein urged all parties to use Resolution 1701 "and fully implement it", following a meeting with parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
On the Israeli side, six soldiers and two civilians have been killed.
Three girls, aged 10, 12 and 14, and their grandmother were buried on Tuesday, days after the NNA said an Israeli strike hit their vehicle in south Lebanon.
Fears appear as conflict could turn into a regional war if attacks on Gaza continue. — AFP
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