Aoun seeks Trump backing for Israel pullback as south Lebanon ‘pilot zones’ begin

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is in Washington for a high-stakes meeting with US President Donald Trump, as the first “pilot zone” operations under a US-brokered framework agreement with Israel began in southern Lebanon.

The visit, which includes meetings with senior US officials, Lebanese diaspora figures and Washington-based think tanks, is being viewed in Beirut as one of the most consequential foreign trips of Aoun’s presidency.

It is the first visit by a Lebanese head of state to the White House in nearly two decades, and follows the highest-level Lebanese meetings with a US president since former Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Barack Obama in 2011.

Aoun met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday, ahead of his scheduled meeting with Trump on Tuesday. Rubio said Washington remained committed to supporting the June trilateral framework agreement and Lebanon’s efforts to deliver “security, peace and a better future” for its people.

The Washington visit comes after six rounds of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to end the war, mediated by the United States. The fifth round, held in Washington, produced the framework agreement on 26 June, while the sixth round took place in Rome last week.

For Aoun, the trip to Washington is not merely diplomatic. Sources close to the presidential palace told Middle East Eye that Lebanon had worked hard to secure the visit and the meeting with Trump, viewing it as essential to strengthen Aoun’s image at home and to show that the direct negotiations track can produce results.

Aoun’s argument, according to those sources, is that negotiations can achieve what war has not: a halt to fighting, the return of displaced residents, Lebanese army deployment in the south, and an Israeli pullback from Lebanese territory, even if the text refers to it as “redeployment” rather than withdrawal.

Read more: Aoun seeks Trump backing for Israel pullback as south Lebanon ‘pilot zones’ begin