US and European mediators are trying to keep intensifying cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah from spiralling into a wider Middle East conflict, Al Jazeera reports.

Hopes are fading for a ceasefire in Israel’s incursion in Gaza that would calm attacks by Hezbollah and other Iran-allied groups. With the stalled talks in mind, American and European officials are delivering warnings to Hezbollah about taking on the military might of Israel, Reuters quoted current and former diplomats as saying.

They’re warning Hezbollah shouldn’t count on Western nations being able to restrain Israeli leaders if they decide to execute battle-ready plans for “all-out war” on Lebanon.

Gerald Feierstein, a former senior US diplomat in the Middle East, said “it certainly seems the Israelis are still … arranging themselves in the expectation that there will be some kind of conflict … an entirely different magnitude of conflict”.