U.S. special envoy hopes diplomacy will calm Lebanon-Israel border

U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein said on Thursday he was hopeful diplomacy could calm tensions on the disputed border between Lebanon and Israel, where the Israeli military and armed group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for three months. Hochstein met Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, foreign minister, army commander and speaker of parliament in an hours-long visit to the Lebanese capital on Thursday. "I firmly believe that the people of Lebanon do not want to see an escalation of the current crisis to further conflict," he told reporters in Beirut.