Hochstein's successor visits Lebanon, seeks inspection of 30 'Hezbollah sites'
Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus -- who succeeded U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein -- began her first visit to Lebanon on Thursday by meeting at the U.S. Embassy with U.S. Major General Jasper Jeffers, the head of the ceasefire monitoring committee.
The pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper said Ortagus agreed with Jeffers on “launching an intensive work program with the Lebanese Army to search around 30 sites suspected of being resistance (Hezbollah) facilities north of the Litani River, especially in al-Zahrani and the Bekaa.”
The committee had informed the Lebanese Army command that it has information about “buildings, depots, valleys and forests in which Hezbollah is hiding ammunition and weapons, based on claims submitted by the Israeli enemy,” al-Akhbar said.
The Americans meanwhile “want officer appointments in the army and security forces that suit their interpretation of the ceasefire agreement and who would have no ties to Hezbollah,” the daily added.
“Ortagus will try to press Lebanon’s leaders to approve the appointment of army and security forces officers who enjoy U.S.-French consent, in order to halt the residents’ uprising that led to the liberation of parts of their towns and the facilitation of the army’s deployment,” the newspaper’s sources said.
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