Report: US, France pressed Israel and Lebanon during Sunday flare-up

Intensive diplomatic contacts “accompanied and followed Sunday’s confrontations” between Israel and Hezbollah, a media report said.

“Washington simultaneously exerted pressures on the Lebanese and Israeli sides to rein in escalation and avoid descending into the war mistake, stressing that the two sides need to engage in the diplomatic solution course,” al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted “credible sources” as saying.

The United States also communicated with Tehran through a “third party,” possibly “Qatar or Oman,” the sources added.

“Fearing that Lebanon and the region could fall into a state of instability, the French also exerted efforts and sent messages directly warning against descending into a war whose consequences would be dire for all parties,” the sources said.