Contacts intensify with Lebanon in bid to contain border tensions

Western and non-Arab nations intensified their contacts over the past hours with Lebanese officials in a bid to contain the tensions on the southern front with Israel and avoid descent into a bigger confrontation, media reports said.

“These contacts expressed desire to preserve security and stability in Lebanon, especially on the southern front, and carried a renewed U.S. assurance that Israel does not intend to engage in a confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon,” al-Joumhouria newspaper reported.

Lebanese officials said that “Lebanon has been and is still in a position of self-defense in the face of the continuous Israeli attacks,” the daily said.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein meanwhile held phone talks with several Lebanese officials in the wake of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech on Friday, the newspaper added.