American-Israeli Meeting to Enhance Security Coordination in Lebanon

A report by the Jerusalem Post revealed that Israeli Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir held a meeting on Wednesday with US Marine Corps Commander in Central Command Lieutenant General Joseph Clervield, "to enhance coordination mechanisms related to Lebanon which affect Israel, the Lebanese Army, and Hezbollah."

According to the report, Israeli and American officials held a series of consecutive meetings in recent days to push forward the process of deploying the Lebanese Army in new areas south of Lebanon, with the aim of removing the Hezbollah militia from those areas and allowing partial withdrawals by the Israeli Army.

The report added that Clervield served, before the 2026 war, as the main coordinator between Israel and Lebanon on these issues, supported by about 30 other American military officials.

The report indicated that until last June 25, the US Central Command "CENTCOM" was not sure whether Clervield and the thirty officials would return to their previous positions, or whether these positions would change in any way.

The report said that Zamir presented during the meeting several points that Israel has recently been raising with American officials, as he and others did with the Commander of the US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, in previous meetings, such as the need to coordinate de-escalation, secure areas from Hezbollah, and partial Israeli withdrawals, apart from any Iranian influence.

Zamir affirmed, as Israeli officials stated in previous meetings with American officials, that Hezbollah is going through a historic point of weakness, and that the Lebanese government's convergence with Israeli positions has reached its peak, and that all this cannot be wasted by allowing Hezbollah to rearm.

The report revealed that the Israeli Army, despite this optimism, expressed doubts about the Lebanese Army's ability to withstand Hezbollah, given recent events.