Aoun meets with US military delegation after Israeli strikes
President Joseph Aoun met Monday at the Baabda Palace with a U.S. military delegation, hours after Israel carried out violent airstrikes deep in south Lebanon and on the country’s border with Syria.
The delegation, which was accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson, comprised U.S. Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla, the head of the ceasefire monitoring committee Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers and a number of officers.
LBCI reported that the U.S. delegation assured Aoun that "Washington will continue to support the Lebanese Army" and that "the talks discussed the situation in the south, the measures taken to implement Resolution 1701, and the ongoing cooperation between the army, UNIFIL and the monitoring committee."
The overnight airstrikes placed further strain on a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which came into effect on November 27.
The Israeli military said it struck a number of Hezbollah targets it had presented to ceasefire monitors as threats.
"Among the targets struck were a rocket launcher site, a military site, and routes along the Syria-Lebanon border used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah," it said.
The strikes came just two weeks before the January 26 deadline for implementing the November ceasefire, which both sides have accused the other of violating.
The Israeli military statement said it was operating "in accordance with the ceasefire understandings."
Under the terms of the deal, Hezbollah is to dismantle its remaining military infrastructure in the south and pull its forces back north of the Litani River, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon this month accused Israel of a "flagrant violation" of the Security Council resolution which forms the basis of the ceasefire.
Israeli strikes in south Lebanon killed five people on Friday, according to the Lebanese health ministry, with the Israeli military saying it targeted a Hezbollah weapons truck.
