White House officials are scheduled to meet with French officials in Paris on Wednesday to discuss ways to defuse an escalating border conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, a conflict that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said this week has caused Israel to lose sovereignty over northern Lebanon.
The visit by Amos Hochstein, the president's special coordinator for global energy and infrastructure, was confirmed by a person close to the talks on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the matter.
Hochstein has become Biden's de facto envoy to resolve the border dispute, and he is due to meet with Jean-Yves Le Drian, President Emmanuel Macron's special envoy for Lebanon, and Anne-Claire Legendre, a senior adviser to Macron, according to a separate person close to the talks.
Lebanon became a French protectorate after World War I. France still has some influence in the country and has offered to halt the fighting. The White House had no immediate comment on Hochstein's visit.
U.S. officials have been trying for months to prevent war between Israel and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and has launched rocket attacks into northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip and launched the current war by attacking Israel on Oct. 7.
Fears have been growing in recent weeks that all-out war could break out between Israel and Hezbollah amid escalating cross-border firefights, and Israeli officials have publicly vowed to shift their military focus from Hamas to Hezbollah, a much more advanced and powerful military threat.
Firas Maqsad, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, wrote on social media He said there was still time for major powers to find a diplomatic solution: “The window for diplomacy is closing, but it is not closed yet,” he said.
Speaking at the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, Blinken said Monday that Israel has “effectively lost sovereignty” along the Lebanese border after Hezbollah attacks from across the border forced many of the residents from their homes. About 60,000 Israelis have fled the area, many of whom have been living in Tel Aviv hotels for nine months. Fighting has also forced tens of thousands to flee southern Lebanon.
Blinken said he did not believe the main parties in the border dispute — Israel, Hezbollah and Iran — actually wanted war, but noted the “momentum” of a conflict could make it so. U.S. officials worry that such a conflict would force the United States to come to Israel's defense.
“Nobody wants war,” Blinken said. He said Iran, a staunch Israeli enemy, “wants to make sure that Hezbollah is not annihilated and can retain it as a card if necessary if we end up in a direct conflict with Israel.”
“Without doing something about the deteriorating insecurity, people will not be able to return home in safety,” Blinken said, adding that a deal to withdraw troops from the border was needed to resolve the issue.
“The Israeli-Palestinian agreement to end the Gaza ceasefire is a major step forward for the Palestinian cause,” he said.
Hochstein has met in recent weeks with Israeli officials, as well as Lebanese officials who have messaging access to Hezbollah, to negotiate a withdrawal of Hezbollah far enough from the border that Israel is comfortable with in return for Israeli withdrawal from the disputed border area and possible U.S. economic aid to southern Lebanon, analysts said.
Ewan Ward Contributed report.