Top US general to visit Lebanon as Hezbollah, Israel avoid full-blown war

BEIRUT — The Pentagon's top-ranking general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Brown, is reportedly heading to the Lebanese capital Beirut in the coming days for talks on the latest regional developments. The visit comes as Lebanese officials are reaching out to foreign diplomats to avoid further escalation following Hezbollah’s retaliatory attack on Sunday against Israel over the killing of one of its senior commanders in an Israeli strike last month.

The Beirut-based al-Liwaa daily said Monday that Brown is coming to Beirut, carrying a message — the content of which has not been disclosed — to Lebanese officials about the developments in the region.

According to information obtained by the newspaper, Brown’s visit was scheduled before Sunday’s attack.

The top military official was in Cairo and Amman Sunday before heading to Israel as Washington intensifies its efforts to contain the situation in the region in the aftermath of the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a suspected Israeli strike in Tehran July 31 and the killing of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli drone strike in Beirut the day before.