Lebanese Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun (L), receives U.S. Major General, Jasper Jeffers, head of the Quint Supervisory Committee, at his office in Yarzeh, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (Photo: Lebanon’s National News Agency)
Major General Jasper Jeffers of the U.S. military flew to Beirut as part of US efforts to support the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon. The American general will head up an international team to monitor the implementation of the agreement.
In an announcement made by U.S. military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) Maj. Gen. Jeffers, the Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT), arrived immediately the day after the ceasefire was announced. CENTCOM announced that the Major General will co-chair the team responsible for overseeing the implementation of the cessation of hostilities. He will share the role with Senior Advisor to the President Amos Hochstein until a permanent civilian official is named.
The international team, referred to as the “cessation of hostilities implementation and monitoring mechanism” by CENTCOM, 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 have been concerns about escalations that could affect the whole region, given the fragility of the ceasefire agreement . However, YNet News reported that there are hopes on the Israeli side that Hezbollah will now shift its focus to the Assad regime.
On Friday, Jeffers met with LAF commander Joseph Aoun to discuss the coordination mechanism between the involved parties in the south, according to The New Arab’s 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.”
The decorated major general Jeffers has served in the U.S. Army since 1996 and has previously been deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria as part of his military career, according to his SOCOM profile . He led a brigade within the U.S. Army Special Operations Command deployed to support Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria, the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS in those countries.