Amos Hochstein, the special envoy of President Joe Biden, is set to arrive in Israel on Thursday.
The announcement of his visit comes following the assassination of Hamas deputy Saleh al-Arouri on Tuesday, and the killing of four Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon yesterday, including Hussein Yazbak, a senior commander.
Hochstein was instrumental in the signing of the maritime border deal between Lebanon and Israel in 2022.
He also visited the Middle East several times last year before the war started, in attempts to prevent escalations between Israel and Hezbollah. His most recent visit was in November, when he met with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
"The United States does not want to see conflict in Gaza escalating and expanding into Lebanon," Hochstein said at the time.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also departing the U.S. on Thursday for a Middle East trip, in which he will visit "a number of capitals, including Israel," according to an unnamed U.S. official. Blinken's trip also concerns U.S. efforts related to the Gaza war.
With the killing of Arouri in Lebanon, in Hezbollah's proverbial backyard, the pressure on Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to respond is high. Nasrallah previously threatened Israel in August about assassinations carried out on Lebanese soil.
"Any assassination on Lebanese soil against a Lebanese Syrian, Iranian or Palestinian will be met with a decisive response. We will not tolerate this, and we will not allow Lebanon to become a new killing field for Israel," Nasrallah said at the time.
Wednesday evening, Nasrallah gave a scheduled speech to commemorate Qassem Soleimani, in which he addressed Arouri's killing, calling it "blatant Israeli aggression." Soleimani, the leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq four years ago after visiting Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon.
Nasrallah's response to the killing was seen as restrained, compared to his previous threat of "a decisive response." Instead of promising a clear retaliation against Israel, Nasrallah warned against future Israeli aggressions.
"If the enemy [Israel] considers waging a war against Lebanon, our battle will be boundless, without rules. If war is waged against Lebanon, Lebanon's interest will be to go to war all the way, unrestrained," Nasrallah said in his speech.
Nasrallah did say the "enemy aggression" would "not go unpunished," but did not specify how the group would respond.
Amos Hochstein's arrival comes as Israel is feeling increasingly constrained in its options to deal with Hezbollah. Israel had requested international help in getting Hezbollah to retreat past the Litani River, as stipulated in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.
While the U.S. sent two carriers to the Mediterranean following the start of the Gaza war with the aim of preventing an escalation by Hezbollah, it is not clear what constitutes a severe escalation on the part of Hezbollah. The terror group has carried out near daily launches of rockets, anti-tank missiles, mortars, and drone attacks against Israel since the start of the ground campaign in Gaza.
A sign of Israel's frustration with the situation was seen just 90 minutes after Nasrallah's speech ended, when an Israeli airstrike killed Nasrallah's deputy, Hussein Yazbek, and three other Hezbollah operatives.
Republished with permission from All Israel News.