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June 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The special envoy of the United States, Amos Hochstein, met this Monday with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, with the aim of addressing the rise in tensions on the border with Lebanon, the scene of clashes for more than eight months. between the Israeli Army and the Shiite militia party Hezbollah.
Netanyahu’s office has confirmed the meeting in Jerusalem and has added in his account on the social network X that the Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, was present; the secretary of the office for military affairs, Rohman Goffman; and the ‘number two’ of the American Embassy in Israel, Stephanie Hallett.
At the moment no details have been released about the content of the meeting, the first in a series of meetings that Hochstein will hold with senior Israeli officials. In the next few hours he is also scheduled to hold a meeting with the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and with the opponents Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz.
The visit comes just a few days after Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, ruled out that the country would join an initiative promoted by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, to create a “trilateral” contact group with United States to try to reduce tensions on the border with Lebanon.
In fact, Israeli Army spokesman Daniel Hagari has recently accused Hezbollah of “increasing its aggression” against Israeli territory and has warned that the situation “is on the verge” of an expansion of the conflict, which “could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the region.
The Israeli Army and Hezbollah – backed by Iran and which has significant political weight in Lebanon – have been engaged in a series of clashes since October 8, a day after the attacks carried out by Hamas and other Palestinian factions, which left some 1,200 dead and nearly 240 kidnapped. Since then, Gazan authorities, controlled by the Islamist group, have reported the deaths of more than 37,300 Palestinians.
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