Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday in the first visit by a Lebanese head of state to Washington in 17 years, presenting a plan to disarm Hezbollah and secure an Israeli military withdrawal from southern Lebanon and telling Trump he is the only leader with sufficient leverage to make it happen.
Aoun, a career soldier twice wounded in combat who was elected president last year after a two-year presidential vacuum, arrived in Washington on Saturday at Trump’s personal invitation. His agenda covers four interconnected demands: strengthening the fragile US-brokered ceasefire framework signed on June 26, pressuring Israel to implement the withdrawal it committed to under that agreement, extending Lebanese state authority over all of its territory including the south, and ultimately confronting Hezbollah’s arms.
The obstacles are formidable as Israeli troops continue to occupy a swathe of southern Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese remain displaced. Hezbollah has firmly rejected both direct government talks with Israel and efforts to strip it of its weapons.
A senior Lebanese official told reporters Aoun believes only Trump possesses the leverage needed to pressure Israel to move.
