France asks Israel to make position public on Lebanon border proposals

France’s foreign minister called on Israel to make public its position on a proposal that he shared with it aimed at defusing tensions between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah, as Paris tries to act as an intermediary between the foes.
Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in escalating daily cross-border strikes over the past six months – in parallel with the war in Gaza – and their increasing range and sophistication has raised fears of a wider regional conflict.
The Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah has amassed a formidable arsenal since a 2006 war with Israel and since October thousandsof people on both sides of the border have been displaced by the clashes.