Israel warns of 'devastating consequences' as spike in fire with Lebanon risks wider conflict

• A senior U.S. adviser will travel to Israel in a bid to simmer tensions at the Lebanon border, where recent rains of missiles have reignited the risk of a broader conflict.
• "Hezbollah's increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation," a spokesperson for the Israeli military said.
• Amos Hochstein, a senior diplomatic adviser to the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, is expected in Israel on Monday, an Israeli official told NBC News.

A senior U.S. adviser will travel to Israel in a bid to cool rising tensions at the Lebanon border, where recent rains of missiles have reignited the risk of a broader conflict between the Jewish nation and Iran-backed militia.

Over the past week, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has ramped up hostilities and cross-border missile attacks against targets in northern Israel, according to Israel Defense Forces and the Hezbollah-aligned al-Manar news outlet.

It comes amid a ramp-up in attacks by Hezbollah in recent weeks following repeat offensives against its neighbor since October.

The group is aligned with the similarly Iran-backed Palestinian militant organization Hamas, although Tehran denies that it commands these directly. Hezbollah claims solidarity with the Palestinian plight amid Israel's war campaign in the Gaza Strip.

Tensions have spiked on the border since the Israel Defense Forces on June 12 reported that an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese village of Jouaiyya killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Sami Taleb Abdullah, alongside three other group operatives.

The IDF claimed that Taleb Abdullah had "planned, advanced and carried out a large number of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians," which CNBC could not