IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir met with US Commander of Marine Forces Central Command Lt.-Gen. Joseph Clearfield on Wednesday to promote Lebanon-related coordination mechanisms impacting Israel, the Lebanese Army, and Hezbollah, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
A number of Israeli and American officials have been meeting with each other in rapid succession in recent days to move forward the process of the Lebanese Army deploying to new areas in southern Lebanon to ensure that Hezbollah is out of those areas and to permit partial withdrawals from IDF officials.
Clearfield was the senior official and main coordinator with Israel and Lebanon on such issues, with support from around 30 other American military officials, prior to the 2026 war.
Even as recently as June 25, US Central Command (CENTCOM) was unsure whether and when Clearfield and the 30 officials would return to the same roles, or whether the roles would shift in any way.
In the meeting, Zamir made clear many of Israel's regular recent points to US officials, the same way he and others have to CENTCOM Chief Admiral Brad Cooper in recent meetings, such as that the coordination of conflict reduction, securing areas from Hezbollah, and Israeli partial withdrawals must be done separately from any Iranian influence.
In addition, the IDF chief emphasized, as Israeli officials have said in other recent meetings with American officials, that Hezbollah is at a historic weak point, that the closeness of the Lebanese government to Israeli positions is at a high point, and that all of this cannot be squandered in a way that would allow Hezbollah to rearm.
Despite the optimism, the IDF has been skeptical that the Lebanese Army would have staying power in holding back Hezbollah, given recent history.
IDF: Lebanon fears Hezbollah
For months in late 2024, the IDF complained that the Lebanese Army was afraid of Hezbollah and not nearly aggressive enough in handling issues and complaints, which Israel brought to its attention regarding the terror group’s ceasefire violations.
Then, by April 2025, the IDF told the Post that the Lebanese Army had improved and acted on 500 separate complaints by Israel against Hezbollah.
However, already by July 2025, the IDF said that the Lebanese Army had plateaued and was sinking in its resolve to confront Hezbollah.
Lebanon's Shi'ite army sympathetic to Hezbollah
Part of the issue is systemic since a large portion of the army is Shi’ite and sympathizes with Hezbollah as the leading force for its tribe when competing with Lebanon’s Sunni and Christian groups.
Another systemic issue is that Hezbollah is still simply better armed and viewed as more determined to fight than the Lebanese Army.
Current IDF efforts are heavily focused on convincing American officials to take these challenges seriously to avoid past failures.