US General Jeffers arrives in Beirut to help enforce Israel-Lebanon ceasefire
Maj.-Gen. Jasper Jeffers of the U.S. military flew to Beirut as part of the U.S. efforts to support the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
According to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), Jeffers, who leads Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT), arrived the day after the ceasefire was announced. He will head up an international team overseeing the implementation of the cessation of hostilities, sharing the role with U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein until a permanent civilian official is named, CENTCOM reported.
The international team, referred to as the “cessation of hostilities implementation and monitoring mechanism,” will be chaired by the United States but include members of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), along with France.
Due to the increasingly volatile situation in Syria, there are concerns about escalations that could affect the entire region, given the fragility of the ceasefire agreement.
However, Ynet News reported that Israel hopes Hezbollah will now shift its focus to the Syrian regime, led by President Bashar al-Assad.
On Friday, Jeffers met with LAF commander Joseph Aoun to discuss the coordination mechanism between the involved parties in the south, according to the Arabic-language site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
“This is something we need to monitor closely to see how it unfolds,” Israeli officials said, following a special security meeting held Friday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“It doesn’t necessarily impact us in the short term, but any instability in a neighboring country could eventually affect us. That said, there may also be opportunities for change here.”
Jeffers, a decorated brigadier general in the U.S. Army since 1996, was previously deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
He led a brigade within the U.S. Army Special Operations Command deployed to support "Operation Inherent Resolve," the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Jo Elizabeth has a great interest in politics and cultural developments, studying Social Policy for her first degree and gaining a Masters in Jewish Philosophy from Haifa University, but she loves to write about the Bible and its primary subject, the God of Israel. As a writer, Jo spends her time between the UK and Jerusalem, Israel.
