US sets up ‘monitoring mechanism’ for fighting in Lebanon; 3 days of fresh direct talks to start tomorrow

The US Central Command has started a “monitoring mechanism” of fighting in Lebanon so that policymakers have real-time and accurate information regarding the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, a US official says in a statement to reporters.

A source familiar with the matter says that this monitoring mechanism is separate from the deconfliction mechanism for Lebanon that Vice President JD Vance announced earlier today. The latter mechanism is one that uses Qatar for the US to pass along complaints to Iran regarding alleged Hezbollah ceasefire violations in Lebanon, as opposed to the previous system that was more ad hoc, the source says.

The unveiling of the monitoring mechanism comes after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held phone calls with the leaders of Israel and Lebanon over the weekend, the US official says.

Israeli and Lebanese officials will build on the mechanism during three days of negotiations in Washington that will kick off tomorrow, the US official says.