Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib met Thursday with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg in Beirut.

Schallenberg urged Israel and Hezbollah not to escalate the conflict along the border.

He said the Middle East has witnessed enough devastation and cruelty.

In recent weeks, Israeli strikes have targeted areas far beyond the usual border regions, killing several Hezbollah commanders and increasing the civilian death toll, while Hezbollah downed an Israeli Hermes-450 drone for the first time since the war began.

The escalating cross-border exchanges have stoked fears of all-out war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

CNN said Thursday that American officials are concerned about a possible Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon in the late spring or early summer, while analysts think the risk of a full-scale war is unlikely, despite the escalation.