The Biden administration has been holding talks with Israel, Lebanon and intermediaries for Hezbollah aimed at reducing current tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border and restoring calm there longer-term by moving Hezbollah forces away from the frontier, according to Lebanese and Israeli officials, and other participants in the talks.
The diplomatic effort is being led by Amos Hochstein, a senior White House adviser who oversaw talks last year that resulted in a historic agreement between Israel and Lebanon that resolved long-running maritime border disputes between the countries. Hezbollah, the most powerful political and military force in Lebanon, backed the agreement after initially expressing opposition and threatening to attack Israel’s gas rigs.
The immediate focus of the discussions has been to prevent cross-border skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah — fueled by Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza — from escalating into an all-out conflict, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive deliberations.
Mr. Hochstein and other US officials have passed messages to Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah, warning them that the risk of escalation is extraordinarily high and encouraging them to exercise maximum restraint to avert a war that could draw Iran, other regional militant groups, and the United States. into the conflict.
The United States does not negotiate directly with Hezbollah, which it has designated a terrorist organization. The Lebanese foreign minister, prime minister and speaker of Parliament have been acting as intermediaries for Hezbollah, according to a senior Lebanese official.
In addition to its efforts to contain the immediate risk of escalation, the Biden administration has been discussing with the parties the parameters of a longer-term agreement to increase stability along the border so that tens of thousands of displaced civilians in northern Israel and southern Lebanon feel safe enough to return to their homes after the war in Gaza ends.
One guiding principle supported by the Biden Administration is seeing the Lebanese Armed Forces become the sole border force on Lebanon’s side of the border, thus pushing Hezbollah forces away from the border with Israel.
According to participants in the talks, Israeli officials have sent mixed messages about the distance Hezbollah fighters would have to move north of the border to allow Israeli civilians to return to their communities in northern Israel. One Israeli proposal called for Hezbollah forces to move at least five kilometers, or about three miles, north of the Israeli-Lebanese border — to reduce the chances that the group could follow Hamas’s example and send large numbers of fighters into Israel to kill and kidnap. Israeli civilians. Another called for them to move eight kilometers.
Biden administration officials have not taken a formal position on how far Hezbollah forces should be required to move north of the Israeli-Lebanese border, to preserve their flexibility in the negotiations, but they believe the distance may need to be more than five kilometers.
US officials hope that Hezbollah, which they say is sensitive to local public opinion, will abide by an agreement that puts members of the Lebanese Armed Forces on the border. They point to Hezbollah’s decision to go along with the maritime agreement and surveys that show that more than 80 percent of the Lebanese public do not want a conflict.
The Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment. Hezbollah officials did not respond to a request for comment.