While the US is attempting to reach a ceasefire between Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia in south Lebanon, Israel's army on Tuesday greenlighted planning for an offensive in the neighbouring country.
High-ranking commanders approved "operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon" as part of a "situational assessment in the Northern Command," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday evening.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz meanwhile warned of an escalation of tensions in the north of the country bordering Lebanon.
"We are very close to the moment of decision to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon," Katz said in a post on social media platform X. "In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit."
It came after Hezbollah released drone images earlier on Tuesday which it said show areas near the northern Israeli port city of Haifa.
"[Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah boasts today about filming the ports of Haifa, operated by international companies from China and India, and threatens to attack them," Katz said on X.
"The State of Israel will pay a price on the front and home fronts, but with a strong and united nation, and the full power of the IDF, we will restore security to the residents of the north," Katz continued.
US envoy on mission to avert escalation
US special envoy Amos Hochstein was in Beirut on Tuesday in an effort to de-escalate the situation.
Hochstein said Washington was working to avoid "a greater war" between Israel and Hezbollah as he held talks with top Lebanese officials.
"We have seen an escalation over the last few weeks and what [US] President [Joe] Biden wants to do is to avoid a further escalation to a greater war. That is the effort here," Hochstein told reporters after holding talks with Lebanon's House Speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah.
"This is a very serious situation that we are in," the US official said. "We believe that there is a pathway diplomatically" to end the conflict, Hochstein said.
"We continue to seek to stop the escalation, restore security and stability, and stop the ongoing violations of Lebanese sovereignty and the acts of systematic killing and destruction committed by Israel," Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement after meeting the US envoy.
Hochstein had visited Israel on Monday. Benny Gantz, an opposition leader in Israel, reportedly told him then that "time is running out" to reach any sort of diplomatic deal to reinstate calm along Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
Gantz stressed to Hochstein that he is committed to "removing the threat Hezbollah poses to the citizens of northern Israel, regardless of developments on the war in Gaza," his office said.
Escalating violence on the border
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip in October, there have been daily clashes between the Israeli army, Hezbollah and allied groups in the border area between Israel and Lebanon.
Israel wants to use military and diplomatic pressure to ensure that Hezbollah retreats behind the Litani River, 30 kilometres from the border - as stipulated in an important UN resolution on the 2006 conflict.
Hochstein, referring to Biden's May 31 proposal for a Gaza ceasefire, stressed that a ceasefire provides an alternative diplomatic solution which could bring the conflict on the Lebanese-Israel border to an end as well as return displaced people on both sides of the border to their homes.
About 150,000 people have been evacuated or have left the combat zone due to violence which started on the Lebanese-Israeli border on October 8.
According to Israeli information, Hezbollah - which is trained and financed by Iran - has an arsenal of at least 150,000 rockets that could reach targets across Israel.
