American envoy Amos Hochstein is scheduled to visit Beirut next week, as the conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli army intensifies, according to reports from multiple regional media outlets.
Amos Hochstein © X
American envoy Amos Hochstein is scheduled to visit Beirut next week, as the conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli army intensifies, according to reports from multiple regional media outlets.
At the same time, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to Israel on Tuesday as part of a broader regional visit, Israeli journalist Barak Ravid confirmed.
In a Friday evening interview with al-Jadeed, a Lebanese news outlet, Hochstein emphasized the importance of encouraging the Lebanese state to deploy its army to Southern Lebanon, in line with UN Resolution 1701, which was adopted in 2006.
He acknowledged, however, that the resolution had not been fully implemented and called for an "amendment" to 1701 to address these shortcomings.
Hochstein also underscored the need for the war in Lebanon to be treated separately from other regional conflicts, a veiled reference to Hezbollah's demand to tie any ceasefire in Lebanon to an end to Israel's military offensive in Gaza.
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein said the situation in Syria, where rebels are pressing a rapid advance that is threatening President Bashar al-Assad's grip on power, was creating a new weakness for militant Lebanese group Hezbollah and for Iran.
Iran's acceleration in its enrichment of uranium to close to bomb grade is "extremely serious", has no civilian justification and contradicts Tehran's assertions on wanting serious nuclear negotiations, a Western diplomatic source said on Saturday.
Rebel factions have advanced to within 20 kilometers of the capital Damascus after taking control of the southern province of Deraa, according to statements made Saturday by a rebel commander and a monitoring group.
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