Hochstein due in region this week, but is a short-term fix possible in Lebanon?
With the U.S. presidential election just a week away, the Biden administration is not giving up hope for short-term deals for cease-fires in Gaza and Lebanon.
In Lebanon, where Israel has been intensifying military operations against Hezbollah for the past month, U.S. officials allow that a short-term fix is probably unrealistic.
That's because Lebanon's fractured political leadership is distrusted by Israeli officials and because the Lebanese Armed Forces have yet to move convincingly to keep Hezbollah fighters from attacking Israel from southern Lebanon.
Biden aide Amos Hochstein — who has been a point man on administration efforts to keep Israel and Hezbollah from entering a full-scale war — is expected in the region this week to get a sense from Israeli officials on what they would be willing to support.
Depending on what he hears, he may then travel to Lebanon to explore what officials there would be willing to do to prevent further Hezbollah rocket strikes on northern and central Israel, officials said.
Source: Associated Press
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/308934 |