Biden Envoy Hochstein To Visit Israel On Monday To Calm Tensions

US President Joe Biden's senior Middle East envoy, Amos Hochstein, will make another trip to Israel on Monday in a bid to calm rising tension with Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah, on the Israel-Lebanon border.

• White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters a short time ago that Hochstein's trip is part of the administration’s efforts to prevent escalation and expand the conflict: “We are trying to prevent the opening of a second front in northern Israel.”
• Barak Ravid at Axios reports that, "US officials say they are concerned by the escalating rhetoric from the IDF about going to war with Lebanon."
• Middle East Monitor reports: "Israeli analysts have voiced concerns that the US is working to prevent Israel from launching a large-scale military operation in Lebanon ahead of the US presidential elections in November."
• Amos Harel, a military affairs analyst at Haaretz, noted that “the stalemate in the negotiations for a ceasefire deal in Gaza is again raising the level of danger in northern Israel... Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, wanted to see whether progress would be made in the talks between Israel and Hamas. But in the absence of any change in the status of the negotiations, Hezbollah is again expanding the targets at which it fires rockets and drones.”