Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pledged Tuesday that his country would work to permanently end hostilities with Israel, appealing to President Donald Trump for political and military support as Beirut seeks to disarm the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization.
Meeting at the White House, Aoun said a U.S.-brokered framework agreement had the “ultimate objective of ending the state of hostility between Lebanon and Israel forever.”
“It’s about time for Lebanon and for the whole region to be stable and secure,” Aoun told Trump.
Aoun urged Washington to continue supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces, which have begun deploying into southern areas vacated by Israeli troops.
“Without the LAF, everything will collapse,” Aoun warned, describing the military as Lebanon’s most trusted institution and the backbone of national security.
Trump pledged substantial assistance for Lebanon and said he would be willing to speak directly with Hezbollah if Aoun requested it.
“I speak to everybody,” Trump said. “If the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, I would.”
The meeting came as Israel began its first withdrawal from a designated “pilot zone” in southern Lebanon under the June 26 framework agreement. The plan calls for Lebanese troops to replace withdrawing Israeli forces while preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding its military presence.
The initial handover was briefly disrupted when Israeli troops fired warning shots after Lebanese soldiers and equipment reportedly entered an Israeli-held buffer zone near Zawtar al-Gharbiya. No injuries were reported, and the Lebanese troops withdrew.
The phased withdrawal is considered a critical test of whether Lebanon’s government can restore sovereignty in the south and establish state control over weapons previously held by Hezbollah.
Despite Aoun’s peace initiative, Hezbollah has rejected the Lebanese government’s direct negotiations with Israel and resisted demands that it surrender its weapons. The Iran-backed group continues to insist that its armed campaign against Israel is legitimate and necessary.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has vowed that the organization will remain on what he called the path of “resistance,” declaring earlier in the conflict that the group would fulfill its duty to confront Israel and would not abandon the battlefield.
That position presents the central obstacle facing Aoun’s government. The U.S.-backed agreement depends on the Lebanese Armed Forces establishing exclusive control over southern Lebanon, but Hezbollah has repeatedly maintained that it will not disarm while Israeli troops remain on Lebanese territory or while it considers Israel a continuing threat.
Reuters reported Tuesday that Hezbollah has rejected both the government’s direct talks with Israel and the state’s efforts to dismantle its arsenal.
