Top Biden Aide to Visit Israel Amid Fears of Escalation With Hezbollah

The visit by the adviser, Amos Hochstein, comes as cross-border clashes between Israel’s military and the powerful Lebanese militia have intensified.

One of President Biden’s most trusted advisers is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday amid deepening concern that months of cross-border violence between Israel and Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militia, could escalate into a larger regional war.

Hezbollah and Israel’s military have been trading near-daily fire since last October, when the start of the war in Gaza prompted the Iran-backed militia to launch rocket attacks on northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas.

The cross-border clashes have intensified in recent months, and Israel’s reduced combat operations in Gaza have freed up more of its forces for a possible offensive in the north against Hezbollah.

The visit by the adviser, Amos Hochstein, is part of efforts by the Biden administration to prevent “an escalation and a widening of this conflict,” John Kirby, a White House spokesman, told reporters last week.

“Amos’s travels are very much a continuation of the diplomacy that he’s been conducting now for many months to try to prevent a second front from opening up in the north there,” he said.

Mr. Hochstein is expected to meet with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on Monday. He has already made at least five trips to Israel and Lebanon since Mr. Biden tasked him with trying to prevent the clashes from expanding into a war that could be even more devastating than the conflict in Gaza.