Top US general set to visit Israel amid escalation with Hezbollah

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff is set to arrive in Israel on Sunday as cross-border tensions continue to escalate between Tel Aviv and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN, Gen. CQ Brown is set to meet with Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during his visit.

No details were provided on the content of the top US general’s talks in Israel.

Brown’s regional tour included Egypt, where he held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He is also scheduled to visit Jordan.

Israeli warplanes launched over 40 airstrikes on southern Lebanon early Sunday, the most severe attack since cross-border attacks with Hezbollah began last October. The Israeli army claimed that the strikes aimed to prevent an impending Hezbollah attack.

The Lebanese group, for its part, said it launched hundreds of missiles and drones deep into Israel in the “first phase” of its response to last month’s assassination of its commander Fouad Shukr in Beirut.

Since Oct. 8, 2023, Hezbollah has been engaged in daily exchanges of fire with the Israeli army across the Blue Line, resulting in hundreds of casualties, mostly on the Lebanese side.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 40,400 Palestinians since an Oct. 7, 2023 incursion by Hamas. The military campaign has reduced much of the territory to rubble and left most of the people homeless, hungry, and prone to disease.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi