Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command (CENTCOM), is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday, according to a report by Moriah Asraf and Doron Kadosh (N13 / Army Radio). The visit, the first since the US-Iran memorandum of understanding was signed, comes as Washington presses for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
US Central Command commander Admiral Brad Cooper will land in Israel on Thursday (Jun 25) for a series of meetings with the senior Israeli defense establishment, according to Moriah Asraf and Doron Kadosh (N13 / Army Radio). The visit was first reported on Wednesday evening (Jun 24, 20:35 Jerusalem) as a scheduled arrival; by 20:35, additional details emerged that Cooper is expected to meet with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz.
The visit comes against the backdrop of growing American pressure on Israel to complete a military withdrawal from Lebanon. As The Zioneer previously reported, Cooper was expected in the region earlier this week; the agenda for his meetings in Israel has not yet been officially detailed, but is widely understood to include security coordination, force posture, and the next phase of US-led efforts to stabilize the Israel-Lebanon border.
The scheduled trip underscores the close operational ties between CENTCOM and the IDF, which have deepened over the past year amid joint operations against Iran and its proxies. This is Cooper's first visit since the US-Iran memorandum of understanding was signed, a deal whose implications for Israeli security were the subject of a political-security cabinet meeting on Jun 13.
No official readout from the Israeli side has been provided yet.
4 developments
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Source and signal
- Internal intake