US scrambles to avert Israel-Hezbollah war, with or without Gaza cease-fire

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Jul 3, 2024

US Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein (R) arrives at the government palace for his meeting with Lebanon's caretaker prime minister in Beirut on August 30 2023. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images) — US Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein (R) arrives at the government palace for his meeting with Lebanon's caretaker prime minister in Beirut on August 30 2023. — ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is racing to avert all-out war between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, dispatching a senior US official to France on Wednesday to coordinate on a diplomatic deal to contain the crisis.

US officials say neither Israel nor Hezbollah desires a full-blown conflict, but a single miscalculation by either side could trigger what the United Nations warned would be a “potentially apocalyptic” war that risks drawing in Iran and the United States.

“I think you have a paradox in this moment, which is that, at least in our judgment, none of the main actors actually want a war,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during an event at the Brookings Institution on Monday.