French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne arrived in Lebanon Sunday as part of diplomatic attempts to broker a deescalation in the conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border. Sejourne was set to meet with United Nations peacekeeping forces in south Lebanon and with Lebanon`s parliament speaker, army chief, foreign minister and caretaker prime minister.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has exchanged strikes near-daily with Israeli forces in the border region ` and sometimes beyond ` for almost seven months against the backdrop of Israel`s war against Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza. Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups but also including more than 50 civilians. Strikes by Hezbollah have killed 10 civilians and 12 soldiers in Israel.