Gallant tells Hochstein Israel committed to diplomacy but may resort to military action
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday held talks with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein, who had visited Lebanon on Monday as he seeks to mediate a solution for the Israel-Hezbollah border conflict.
“We are committed to the political efforts to reach an agreement, but Hezbollah's aggression brings us closer to a decision point regarding our military action in Lebanon," Gallant told Hochstein.
Hochstein had said Monday that a diplomatic solution was key to ending nearly five months of intensifying hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.
"A diplomatic solution is the only way to end the current hostilities" and achieve "a lasting fair security arrangement between Lebanon and Israel," Hochstein told reporters in Beirut, adding that "a temporary ceasefire is not enough."
"A limited war is not containable," he warned after meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally.
Security along the Blue Line, demarcated by the United Nations in 2000 after Israeli troops pulled out of southern Lebanon, "has to change in order to guarantee everyone's security," he added.
The cross-border fighting has displaced tens of thousands on both sides and has killed at least 299 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 49 civilians.
In Israel, at least 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed and Israel has repeatedly warned that it might launch an operation against Hezbollah to secure the border area and return its residents to the north.
Source: Naharnet
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