MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. Lebanon and Iran are in favor of avoiding escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and preventing a direct clash with Israel, Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Rudakov said.

"Neither in Iran, nor in Lebanon, nor anywhere else in the Middle East, no one wants to continue or expand the conflict zone," the diplomat said during a Rossiya-24 TV broadcast. "Both Tehran and Beirut are in favor of preventing a direct clash with Israel," he pointed out, adding that the countries of the region are making maximum diplomatic and political efforts to help end the conflict in Gaza and prevent it from escalating.

It was earlier reported that the Israeli army approved an operational plan for an offensive in Lebanon in mid-June. After the operation against the radical Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the country's authorities expect to simultaneously attack the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. Hezbollah, like Hamas, is opposed to Israel and regularly shells the country's territory from the north.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes have also been reported on the West Bank.