Pentagon Plans US Ground Troop Deployment to Lebanon to Disarm Hezbollah, PressTV Says

The PressTV report says the Pentagon is preparing to deploy US ground troops to Lebanon to implement a US-brokered agreement between Lebanon and Israel that calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah.

The report adds that US officials told The Washington Post that American forces would be stationed in Lebanon to monitor compliance with the agreement by both Lebanon and Israel, and that officials from the US Central Command (CENTCOM) would report any violations directly to the Trump administration.

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It also says the agreement, signed in Washington last week, requires the Lebanese army to oversee the disarmament of Hezbollah and other “non-state armed groups” ahead of a phased Israeli "withdrawal" from southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah rejected the agreement as “null and void,” warning that attempts to impose it could trigger internal unrest, and the resistance group reiterated on Monday that it reserves the right to self-defense as Israeli forces continue attacks on southern Lebanon, described as a blatant violation of the ceasefire.

In a separate report, Al-Manar TV Lebanon quotes Mohammad Reza Aref, the First Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, saying the demand to punish the terrorist killers raised during a funeral procession is a sovereign duty.

Aref wrote on his social media account, “The nation’s rightful demand to punish the terrorist killers, raised during today’s historic funeral procession, is a legitimate demand consistent with international principles of self-defense.”

Al-Manar TV Lebanon

The same Al-Manar TV Lebanon account says millions of Iranians took part in farewell and funeral processions for the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, with the punishment of those responsible for his killing emerging as a central demand voiced by mourners throughout the proceedings.

PressTV also frames the Iran-US memorandum of understanding (MoU) as the alternative path, saying Iran has repeatedly urged the United States to compel Israel to halt its attacks on Lebanon and fully withdraw from the areas it occupies under the Tehran-Washington agreement signed on June 17.

IRNA, via ای?رنا | Other, says the Judiciary announced the death sentence of Abd al-Jalil Shahbakhsh, son of Jalal, a trained member of the terrorist group Ansar al-Furqan, was carried out at dawn today, on Tuesday the 22nd of Ordibehesht.

The report says the prosecutor presented him to the Revolutionary Court on charges of moharebeh (waging war against God) through armed attacks on police outposts and membership in the insurgent group Ansar al-Furqan, and that the Supreme Court affirmed and upheld the death sentence.

IRNA adds that Abd al-Jalil Shahbakhsh admitted he illegally crossed the border about six years ago to receive military training and spent a month in a terrorist camp in the mountains of the destination country, receiving training in handling weapons and urban warfare tactics.

The same IRNA account says the trial court sentenced him to death after repeated confessions and “undeniable evidence,” and that the Supreme Court justices relied on “the conventional knowledge derived from the technical documents and explicit confessions” to confirm the sentence.