Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
A senior US military official has arrived in Lebanon's capital as part of international efforts to monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which took effect on Wednesday.
Maj Gen Jasper Jeffers, head of the Special Operations Command Central, arrived in Beirut on Wednesday, the US Central Command said on Saturday. He will serve as co-chairman, alongside US special envoy Amos Hochstein, "for the implementation and monitoring mechanism of the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon", the Centcom said.
Mr Hochstein will serve as the civilian co-chairman until a permanent civilian official is named. The ceasefire implementation and monitoring mechanism will be chaired by the US and consist of the Lebanese Armed Forces, the Israeli army, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, and France.
"This group will assist in the monitoring and implementation of the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon that went into effect on November 26," the Centcom said.
-
Panic at a Beirut hospital after thousands, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were injured when the pagers they used to communicate exploded across Lebanon. Several people were killed. Reuters -
Mourners in Beirut's southern suburbs carry the coffins of people killed after hundreds of paging devices exploded, in a mass funeral on September 18, 2024. AFP -
A man stands on the rubble of buildings near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs on September 29, 2024. AP -
Workers drape a building in a vast banner depicting Nasrallah in Tehran, two days after his assassination by Israeli forces in Beirut. Getty Images -
Israeli soldiers work on tanks at a staging post near the border with Lebanon on October 1, 2024. AP -
Israeli soldiers rest in an operation zone near Naqoura, southern Lebanon on October 13, 2024, after a ground invasion was launched. Getty Images -
People take cover by a roadside in Tel Aviv as a siren sounds after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel. Reuters -
Iranian-launched projectiles being intercepted by Israel above Jerusalem on October 1, 2024. AFP -
The aftermath of a rocket salvo in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, on November 24, 2024. Hezbollah said it launched the missiles from Lebanon at an Israeli army intelligence base. AFP -
Residents in Petah Tikva check the damage after the rockets were fired from Lebanon. AFP
The ceasefire stipulates that Hezbollah will withdraw from areas south of the Litani river, which runs about 30 kilometres north of the border with Israel, and that the Lebanese army will deploy troops there as Israeli ground troops withdraw. The truce ended a conflict that began the day after Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel last year, when Hezbollah began a low-intensity exchange of cross-border fire in solidarity with its Palestinian allies.
In late September, Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah, launching fierce air strikes and later sending in ground troops. Lebanon's Health Ministry said at least 3,961 people have been killed in the country since October 2023 as a result of the conflict, most of them in recent weeks, while 16,520 were wounded.
On the Israeli side, the hostilities with Hezbollah killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities there said.
While the truce is largely holding, the Israeli military on Friday said it struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon after detecting militant activity in the area.
"A short while ago, terrorist activity and movement of a Hezbollah portable rocket launcher were identified in southern Lebanon," the army said. "The threat was thwarted in an [Israeli Air Force] strike," it added in a statement that featured a video of the air strike on a slowly moving lorry.
Israel has vowed to continue acting against any threats even after the ceasefire. Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Friday vowed to co-operate with the Lebanese army and help build the country's defences.
"We will work to strengthen Lebanon's defensive capacities," said Mr Qassem, who succeeded Hezbollah's former leader Hassan Nasrallah after he was killed in an Israeli air strike on south Beirut in September.
"The resistance will be ready to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of Lebanon's weakness along with our partners, first and foremost the army," he added in a televised speech.
