French foreign minister visits Beirut in a bid to help ease tensions

French Foreign Minister, Stéphane Séjourné was in Beirut for a short visit on Thursday as western powers aim to help ease tensions in the Middle East.

His visit came a day after US senior advisor Amos Hochstein also visited Lebanon.

International mediators were set to hold a new round of talks aimed at halting the Israel-Hamas war and securing the release of scores of hostages, with a potential deal seen as the best hope of heading off an even larger regional conflict.

Diplomats hope it would persuade Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah to hold off on retaliating for the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut and of Hamas' top political leader in an explosion in Tehran.

Hezbollah and Israel have traded strikes since Oct. 8, a day after the Palestinian Hamas group’s surprise attack into southern Israel that sparked the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Still, Iran and Hezbollah say they do not want a full-blown war, and a cease-fire in Gaza could provide an off-ramp after days of escalating threats and a massive military build-up across the region.