U.S. warns all parties against escalation in the Middle East

By Daphne Psaledakis and Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday warned all parties in the Middle East against escalation as tensions between Iran-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah and Israel remained high, saying Washington's priority is to find a diplomatic solution.

"We will continue to stand by Israel's right to defend itself, but we don't want to see any party escalate this conflict, period," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a regular briefing.

The Middle East is on edge after deadly attacks that blew up radios and pagers of militant group Lebanon-based Hezbollah, killing 37 people and wounding around 3,000 and overwhelming Lebanese hospitals and wreaking bloody havoc on the group.

While calling for calm, Miller acknowledged the limits of U.S. diplomacy.

"We have been engaged in the region for some time, and of course, since October 7th we have been engaged to try to bring down tensions. But ultimately, yes, every country is responsible, and every entity is responsible for the actions that they take."

A source familiar with the matter said U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has postponed a trip to Israel planned for next week. Miller declined to comment on Austin's schedule but said Washington will continue talks with Israel.

"I will say that we continue to engage with our Israeli counterparts on this. As publicly reported, Amos Hochstein was just in Israel on Monday, pressing the need for deescalation, pressing the need for a diplomatic resolution," Miller said.

White House Special envoy Amos Hochstein visited Israel this week to discuss the crisis on the northern border where Israeli troops have been exchanging missile fire with Hezbollah forces for months.

Lebanon and Hezbollah have blamed Israel for the device explosions, which Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah said "crossed all red lines". Security sources say the attacks were probably carried out by Israel's Mossad spy agency, which has a long history of carrying out sophisticated attacks on foreign soil.

Israel has not directly commented on the attacks.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Humeyra Pamuk and Anthony Esposito; Editing by Mark Porter and Cynthia Osterman)