Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Hezbollah in Lebanon, its main supporter Iran, and the Lebanese government do not want “a full-blown war” with Israel. But “there’s a suspicion that some circles in Israel are trying to achieve just that”, Lavrov said.

Speaking at a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York, Lavrov said some US and European analysts say “escalation, as the practical developments show, is something which Israel is interested in”.

“Hezbollah has been very much restrained in its actions,” Lavrov said, and the movement’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has “delivered a number of public statements which reaffirmed that position”.

“However, the sentiment is that there’s an attempt to provoke them, and to provoke them into a full-blown engagement,” he said.