Five days of frantic US diplomacy on Lebanon has yielded little

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration headed into the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders with high hopes that he could cement his legacy as an international statesman during escalating conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. Yet five days of frantic diplomacy focused mainly on preventing the Israel-Hezbollah crisis from exploding into a full-scale war yielded little, if any, results. Prospects for peace have further dimmed. The U.S., France and other allies have issued a proposal for a temporary cease-fire along the border with Lebanon. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a defiant speech Friday, vowing to continue operations against Hezbollah. As he spoke, Israel launched a massive strike on Hezbollah’s main headquarters.