Senior U.S. and Israeli officials quietly held a virtual meeting this week to consider options for defusing tensions with Lebanon and preventing a wider regional war between Israel and Hezbollah, according to Axios.

Four Israeli and U.S. officials who spoke with the outlet said the hourlong meeting on Tuesday was organized by the White House to determine the Israeli position and coordinate on policy regarding the situation in Lebanon.

The meeting was not announced by the Biden administration or the Israeli government.  

National security adviser Jake Sullivan reportedly led the U.S. team, which included President Joe Biden's advisers Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk, while the Israeli delegation was headed by Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, a confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Fears of regional escalation grew after Israel and Hezbollah exchanged intense firepower 10 days ago — the most extensive since the militant Shia group's attack on Israel on Oct. 8.

Following U.S. and Israeli intelligence that Hezbollah was planning to unleash a major missile and drone attack on the Jewish state, Israel Defense Forces carried out a preemptive strike. Hezbollah had vowed retaliation for Israel's assassination of its top military commander in Beirut.

Both sides declared victory and quelled escalation fears, but skirmishes between the two sides have flared up again in recent days.

An Israeli official told Axios that the two parties discussed how a long-term diplomatic solution to end the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah could be reached if a cease-fire is negotiated in Gaza and currently displaced Israelis and Lebanese return to their homes along the countries' border.

The official also said that the U.S. and Israel talked about how they could end the fighting in the event that there is no Gaza cease-fire deal.

Israel is demanding that Hezbollah's elite Radwan force be pulled back from the border by at least 6 miles as a condition of any deal with Lebanon.

During the meeting, the Israelis emphasized that the key to a deal would be verifying that the militant group's fighters have left the area and not returned, the officials said.

If Hezbollah's forces do return, the Israelis reportedly called on the U.S. to pledge to support Israeli military action against the group.

Hochstein pointed out that a cease-fire deal in Gaza would help defuse the situation in Lebanon and allow Israel to focus on normalizing ties with Saudi Arabia, an Israeli official told Axios.

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