Blinken says US, partners working tirelessly to avoid full-blown war in Lebanon

By Humeyra Pamuk

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday the risk of escalation in the Middle East was "acute" and that Washington and its allies were working tirelessly to avoid a full-blown war between Israel and Iran-aligned Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

"With regard to Lebanon, we've been working tirelessly with partners to avoid a full-blown war and to move to a diplomatic process that would allow Israelis and Lebanese alike to go back to their homes," Blinken said at the start of a meeting with senior officials and ministers of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in New York.

"Risk of escalation in the region is acute..The best answer is diplomacy, and our coordinated efforts are vital to preventing further escalation," he added.

A senior State Department official on Monday said that the United States and its allies and partners are exploring concrete ideas this week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly that convenes in New York, an event that brings dozens of heads of state and senior officials together.

Israel widened its airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday and shot down a missile that Hezbollah said it had fired at the Mossad spy service headquarters near Tel Aviv, ratcheting up the conflict between the two arch-foes.

The hostilities between them run in parallel to Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas and have been intensifying, with the death toll in Lebanon rising and thousands of people fleeing their homes.

Washington has also been pushing for months to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza that will bring the hostages back, but success has proven elusive. U.S. officials say such a deal would also help calm tensions between Hezbollah and Israel.

"Each of us has to continue to press all of the parties to make the decisions necessary to get this deal over the finish line. It remains again, the best way to get hostages home, bring relief to people, and also can help us reduce tensions on other fronts," Blinken said.

Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, while abducting 250 others, triggering the latest round of fighting in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In response, Israel launched a relentless military offensive on Gaza that killed more than 40,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, and reduced the tiny enclave to a wasteland.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Editing by William Maclean)