EU's Borrell meets Hezbollah official in bid to avoid wider war

The European Union's foreign policy chief met a political official of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Beirut on Saturday, as part of a push to avoid Lebanon being dragged into the Israel-Hamas war.

Josep Borrell held talks with the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, Lebanese media reported. 

An EU source confirmed the meeting, which came hours after the group's militants fired a barrage of rockets at an Israeli military base in response to the killing of a senior Hamas figure in a suspected Israeli strike in Beirut on Tuesday.

The EU is "engaging in diplomatic dialogue with all relevant political representatives who have influence on the situation on the ground or have a stake in it", the source said.