Mechanism head vows to exert efforts to prevent escalation

U.S. General Joseph Clearfield, the new chief of the U.S.-led ceasefire monitoring committee, has vowed to exert efforts to prevent military escalation between Israel and Lebanon, expressing a clear desire to activate the committee’s work and meetings, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.

Clearfield had met Thursday with President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in meetings described as “positive and carrying a new spirit in terms of serious work and exerting a bigger efforts in the coming period,” informed ministerial sources told the daily.

Aoun for his part emphasized that “Lebanon is committed to implementing all the security measures that the Army Command has taken and will continue his work,” adding that “no one, from the South’s residents in particular and Lebanon in general, wants to return to a state of war.”