Israel's offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon has prompted a renewed bid by some leading Lebanese politicians to fill a two-year-long presidential vacuum, an effort to revive the paralysed state as it grapples with an escalating conflict.

President Joe Biden said Israel should hold off from attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities in retaliation for a missile barrage this week, as Group of Seven nations sought to tamp down a spiraling conflict that threatens to pull the US even deeper in.