US urges Israel, Hezbollah to 'keep us from moving into another conflict'

Washington DC — The United States has urged Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to deescalate tensions after 32 people were killed and thousands wounded in back-to-back explosions of communication devices across Lebanon, in an unprecedented attack that was immediately blamed on Tel Aviv.

“We want both sides to try to keep us from moving into another conflict and spreading this conflict beyond where it is now," the US envoy to UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told media in the US capital.

She said America is not trying to minimise the situation that occurred in Lebanon.

“We know the situation is still under investigation, but in no way are we minimising that," Thomas-Greenfield said, adding the US is still working on trying to get through the negotiations on the cessation of hostilities in besieged Gaza.

"We want the hostages released. We want calm in Gaza, so additional humanitarian assistance can be delivered to the suffering people in Gaza."

New front in Israel's Gaza onslaught

Fears of Israel's war on Gaza spilling over to Lebanon have grown after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 32 people and wounding over 3,000.

Beirut's preliminary investigation into pager explosions found that hundreds of pagers had been booby-trapped.

Israel conducted a covert operation targeting Hezbollah by concealing explosive material in Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon, The New York Times reported, adding the operation involved tampering with pagers ordered by Hezbollah from Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese company.

Israel's focus on Lebanon frontier

Local Israeli media said the orders to explode electronic devices in Lebanon came from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu who has vowed to return residents and settlers in northern Israel, who fled from clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli military after October 7 last year.

Israel has yet to confirm or deny involvement in the pager explosions.

But it has a history of cyber sabotage.

When urged to comment on Israel vowing "a new era" of its war in besieged Gaza and focussing more on the Lebanon front and how it might affect the meetings next week at the UN General Assembly, Thomas-Greenfield deflected the question.

"I think I have to refer you to the Israelis to explain what they meant by that statement. But certainly, over the course of next week, we will be engaging in intense discussions with all of our allies, our partners as well as others on, on how to deescalated and bring an end to this conflict," she said.