CAIRO, Egypt
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned America's top general during a meeting on Sunday of the dangers of a major conflict in Lebanon.
U.S. Air Force General C.Q.
Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Egypt hours after a
significant missile exchange between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah.
Hezbollah launched hundreds of
rockets and drones at Israel and Israel said it struck Lebanon with about 100
jets to thwart a bigger attack, in one of the largest clashes in more than 10
months of border warfare.
In a statement, Sisi's office
said the Egyptian leader told Brown that the international community needed to
"exert all efforts and intensify pressures to defuse tension and stop the
state of escalation that threatens the security and stability of the entire
region."
"(Sisi warned) in this
regard of the dangers of opening a new front in Lebanon, and stressing the need
to preserve Lebanon's stability and sovereignty," the statement read.
Brown did not make public
remarks during his visit, on which he also met the defence minister and the
country's chief of defense.
In remarks to Reuters prior to
arriving in the region on Saturday, Brown said he aimed to discuss ways to
avoid any new escalation in tensions that could spiral into a broader conflict.
Brown’s spokesperson said the
U.S. general discussed ways "to deter the conflict from broadening"
during the meetings.
Prior to his Egypt trip, Brown
met Jordan's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Maj. Gen. Yousef Al-Huneiti in Amman.
In a statement, Brown's
spokesperson said the two military leaders discussed "regional tensions
and efforts to deescalate them."
They also discussed "the
urgency of bringing the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal to
closure," the statement said.
Negotiators have been meeting
in Cairo trying to clinch a still-elusive Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal
between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
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