Joseph Aoun's first-ever meeting with his U.S. counterpart comes as Lebanon and Israel hold rare direct talks mediated by Washington. This is the first White House visit by a Lebanese president since 2009.
Trump shook hands with Aoun on the White House driveway and called him “highly respected.” Neither answered reporters' shouted questions about Lebanon and Israel, with Trump instead pointing inside before leading Aoun that way. Moments later, Trump invited reporters into the pair's Oval Office meeting that had originally be listed as closed to the press.
Lebanon hopes the talks will result in Israeli troops withdrawing from large swaths of southern Lebanon that they currently occupy, and the Lebanese military receiving support to assert full control in areas where Hezbollah militants had held sway.
Lebanon and Israel announced a framework agreement on June 26, setting a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw and for the disarmament of Hezbollah, which for decades had a strong presence in southern Lebanon. It also lays out steps toward an eventual peace agreement between the countries, which have never held formal diplomatic ties and have been nominally in a state of war for nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment.
The State Department announced Monday that operations in three villages deemed part of a “pilot zone” had begun, without giving details. Two of the villages, Froun and Srifa, are not under Israeli military control and the Lebanese army is present, while Israeli forces are in part of Zawtar al-Gharbieh.
