Lebanon's Aoun to meet Trump on Israeli withdrawal
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- Joseph Aoun meets Trump at the White House on Tuesday, seeking US backing for Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah, with Lebanon-Israel relations and the disarmament push atop the agenda.
- Marco Rubio told reporters supporting Aoun's government is the best way to defeat Hezbollah, saying Aoun can return home as the legitimate leader delivering results "not Hezbollah, not Iran."
- The US-Lebanon-Israel framework conditions Israeli withdrawal on Hezbollah disarmament and includes a clause requiring both countries to cease hostile actions in international political or legal fora, which rights advocates have called alarming.
- The first pilot zone the State Department announced on Monday covers three towns Israel never occupied during the war, effectively canceling any withdrawal benefit Lebanon would receive.
- Israel Katz, Israel's Defence Minister, said last month that "the Shia villages on the contact line had to disappear," echoing Israeli officials' stated aim to erase border towns as Israel did in parts of Gaza.
- The framework contradicts Lebanon's memorandum of understanding with Iran, which called for an unconditional ceasefire and respect for Lebanese sovereignty — a deal Hezbollah has said it will not abide by.
- Trump has rejected Israeli attacks on Beirut and said Israel should withdraw, but the source notes it remains unclear whether he will apply pressure on Netanyahu to end the occupation.
Why it matters: Aoun is staking his political capital on a framework whose first declared pilot zone yields no actual Israeli withdrawal and contains a clause effectively waiving Lebanon's right to pursue Israeli abuses at international courts — meaning he may leave Washington with a deal that hands Hezbollah its strongest narrative yet that Beirut traded sovereignty for showmanship.
