Senior US official to hold talks to defuse Israel-Hezbollah conflict
Fears of a full-scale open war between Israel and Hezbollah have grown in recent weeks as cross-border firefights have intensified. Israeli officials have spoken publicly of shifting their military focus from Hamas to Hezbollah, a far more advanced and powerful military threat.Firas Maksad, senior researcher at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, wrote on social media that there was still time for key players to find a diplomatic solution. "The window for diplomacy is closing but it is not closed," he said.Mr. Blinken, speaking Monday at the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, said Israel “has effectively lost sovereignty” near its border with Lebanon because Hezbollah attacks from across the border have forced large parts of the population from their hom...