Report: Hezbollah advised to lower intensity of attacks on Israel

European and Western diplomats have advised Hezbollah, through Lebanese officials, to lower the intensity of its cross-border attacks on Israel during this period in order not to give Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu an excuse to expand the war on the South, a media report said.

Israel is “speaking of halting the aerial and ground military operations against Gaza and moving to the third phase, which will be a security war, and this has begun on the ground through the withdrawal of of elite military units from northern Gaza,” the diplomats said, according to Lebanon’s al-Binaa newspaper.

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth meanwhile reported that “all signs indicate that the patience of Israel over the Lebanese border is about to run out.”

“Currently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are giving a chance to diplomatic efforts through U.S. presidential envoy Amos Hochstein in order to reach a political settlement,” the Israeli daily added.

Over 190 people have been killed in Lebanon during more than three months of cross-border clashes, including over 140 Hezbollah fighters and over 20 civilians, among them three journalists. In northern Israel, nine soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.

The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of Lebanese and Israeli residents on both sides of the border and Israel says it is keen on returning its residents to their homes even if that required a military campaign.