By Maya Gebeily, Laila Bassam, and Timour Azhari
(Reuters) – The United States is leading a diplomatic effort to deter Israel from attacking the Lebanese capital Beirut or key infrastructure in response to deadly rocket attacks on the Golan Heights, five people with knowledge of the plan said.
Washington is rushing to avoid a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah after a weekend attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 teenagers, according to five people familiar with the matter, including Lebanese and Iranian officials and diplomats from the Middle East and Europe.
Israel and the United States have accused Hezbollah of carrying out the rocket attacks, but Hezbollah denies responsibility.
The focus of the high-speed diplomacy was to limit Israel’s response by urging it not to target Beirut, the densely populated city that forms Hezbollah’s heartland, or key infrastructure such as airports and bridges, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information that had not been previously reported.
Lebanon’s parliament’s deputy speaker, Elias Bou Saab, who said he had been in contact with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein since Saturday’s attack on the Golan Heights, told Reuters that Israel could avoid the threat of a major escalation of the conflict by protecting the capital and its surrounding areas.
“If they avoid civilians and Beirut and its suburbs, their attacks could be well calculated,” he said.
Israeli officials say Israel wants to hurt Hezbollah but does not want to drag the region into an all-out war. Two Middle East and European diplomats said Israel has made no commitment to avoid attacks on Beirut, its suburbs or civilian infrastructure.
The U.S. State Department would not comment on the details of diplomatic talks, but said it was seeking a “durable solution” that would end all cross-border shooting. “Our support for Israel’s security remains ironclad and unwavering against any Iranian-sponsored threat, including Hezbollah,” a spokeswoman told Reuters.
White House Press Secretary John Kirby (NYSE:) told reporters that Israel had every right to respond to the Golan assault, but no one wanted a broader war. “As for the conversations that took place over the weekend, I think we’ve had those conversations at a number of levels,” he added. “But I’m not going to go into the specifics of those conversations.”
The Israeli prime minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment, and Hezbollah declined to comment.
Five people with knowledge of the diplomatic push over the past two days, who were involved in the talks or briefed on them, said the effort was aimed at achieving a calibrated approach similar to the missile and drone attacks between Israel and Iran in April, which followed Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
The United States has relayed messages to Tehran at least three times since Saturday’s attack on the Golan Heights, warning that “escalating the situation would be detrimental to all parties,” according to an Iranian official.
Hezbollah is the most powerful regional proxy group in Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” network and is allied with the Palestinian Hamas. Hezbollah has been fighting Israeli forces across Lebanon’s southern border since the Gaza war began in October last year.
During the 2006 war, the last major conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli forces bombed Beirut’s southern suburb known as Dahiya, targeting Hezbollah-affiliated buildings and residential towers. Beirut Airport was bombed and rendered unusable, and bridges, roads, gas stations, and other infrastructure were destroyed throughout Lebanon.
A French diplomat told Reuters that Paris had also sent a message of de-escalation between Israel and Hezbollah following the Golan attack.
France has close historical ties with Lebanon, which was under French mandate from 1920 until independence in 1943. Paris has maintained close ties ever since, and the country has around 20,000 citizens, many of whom hold dual citizenship.
The French Foreign Ministry did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The Israeli Home Command, the military unit responsible for protecting civilians, has not yet changed its instructions to the public, indicating that the military does not anticipate an imminent threat from Hezbollah or other groups.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 10-member security cabinet, which dictates policy toward the Gaza war and Hezbollah, gave the prime minister and defense minister the authority to “decide how and when to respond” to Hezbollah.
This decision, along with the abstentions of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, suggests Israel is opting for a short-term response rather than the all-out war some politicians have called for.
After the Golan attack, Smotrich issued a strong statement demanding strong action. He posted on X: “For the deaths of children, (Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah must pay with his head. The whole of Lebanon must pay.”
