The US defense secretary said today that he does not believe a conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is inevitable, even as he remains concerned about the possibility of escalation following a deadly missile strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Tension has escalated since Saturday when a rocket killed 12 children and teenagers in a soccer field in a small Druze town. Israel blamed Iran-backed Hezbollah and vowed a tough response. Hezbollah has denied any involvement.

The United States is leading the diplomatic effort to prevent Israel from hitting Lebanon’s capital Beirut or major civilian infrastructure in response to the attack, five people with knowledge of the effort told Reuters yesterday.

Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire on the Lebanon-Israel border since October in their worst conflict since the 2006 war. The hostilities, sparked by the war in Gaza, have so far been confined to areas near the border.

Although both sides have previously signaled that they are not seeking a wider confrontation, the hostilities have raised concerns about the risk of a slide towards a wider, more destructive conflict between the two heavily armed rivals.

“While we have seen a lot of activity on Israel’s northern border, we remain concerned about the possibility of an escalation into an all-out battle. And I don’t believe that battle is inevitable,” said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“We would like to see things resolved diplomatically,” Lloyd added at a joint press conference in Manila after security talks between himself, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and their Philippine counterparts.

The Israeli military said it struck about 10 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight and killed one of the group’s fighters. Hezbollah confirmed that one of its fighters was killed.

Two Israeli officials said yesterday that Israel wants to hit Hezbollah but not drag the Middle East into an all-out war.

Some flights at Beirut International Airport were canceled or delayed this week due to the escalation of tension.

Hezbollah denies firing the rocket that killed the children in the village of Majdal Shams. It said on Saturday it had fired a missile at a military target in the Golan, a border region Israel captured from Syria in 1967.