Biden tells Mikati US will keep working to prevent conflict expansion

The United States will keep working to prevent an expansion of the Gaza conflict into Lebanon and the region.

In a letter he sent to caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, U.S. President Joe Biden said that his country will continue to work closely with Lebanon and with partners in the Middle East to maintain peace and prevent the expansion of the conflict.

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who visited Lebanon earlier this month, was in Israel on Monday to help prevent full-blown war from breaking out on the Israel-Lebanon border, Washington said.

"We don't want to see this war escalate... We certainly don't believe it's in anybody's interest -- certainly not the Israeli people's interest -- to have a second front there in the north," U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday.

On Tuesday four civilians were killed by Israeli bombardment in Lebanon, including two journalists, while Hezbollah and Israel's exchange of cross-border fire intensified, raising fears of a broader conflagration.