Report: Egypt presses US on preventing escalation in Lebanon

Egypt has delved into the ongoing efforts to prevent an Israel-Hezbollah escalation, after Hezbollah warned Cyprus against allowing Israel to use its territory in any war with Lebanon, a media report said.

“Officials from the Egyptian foreign ministry and intelligence services carried out contacts with the United States to contain the Israeli signals of escalation,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.

“The contacts with Washington focused on the disastrous consequences for all parties should war erupt on the Lebanese front,” a senior Egyptian official told the daily.

The Egyptians stressed to the U.S. side the need to “deal seriously with the statements of Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and not to underestimate the military operations that Hezbollah might carry out,” al-Akhbar said.

According to the same Egyptian official, Washington is seeking to prevent an expansion of the war and it believes that the problem today is no longer about who will “fire the first shot,” but rather about “the repercussions that will happen in the absence of a clear vision that could stop the war if it erupts.”

“The Egyptian officials heard from the Americans that they are preparing to urgently send a high-ranking delegation to meet with Israeli officials and conduct a regional tour aimed at preventing war’s eruption,” the newspaper said, noting that some of the visits will be public.

Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel will meanwhile play a bigger role in the Lebanese file over the coming days, which might lead to a visit to Beirut soon by an Egyptian intelligence delegation, the daily revealed.

According to al-Akhbar, the contacts that Egypt has carried out included communication with Cypriot officials, who “emphasized that Nicosia does not intend to engage in any alliances or actions targeted against Lebanon nor to aid Israel in its war.”