Today, Tuesday, President Joseph Aoun will meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House, in what is the first visit by a Lebanese president to the United States since 2009, and it focuses on the files of disarming Hezbollah, supporting the Lebanese army, and the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Reuters quoted a Lebanese official as saying that President Aoun believes that Trump alone has sufficient influence to pressure Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanese territory and help Lebanon regain its sovereignty.
According to the official, Aoun will present to the US President a written proposal addressing the mechanism for dismantling Hezbollah’s arsenal, in parallel with Washington’s demand to put pressure on Israel to complete its withdrawal from the areas it still controls.
It is also expected that the Lebanese President will request increased American support for the Lebanese Army, in light of the role assigned to it in implementing security arrangements and the deployment of military units in the south.
The visit comes after the United States announced the start of implementation of the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel, which stipulates the deployment of the Lebanese army in experimental southern areas, in conjunction with a gradual Israeli withdrawal from them.
The Israeli side links the completion of the withdrawal to the disarmament of Hezbollah, while Washington continues to pressure the Lebanese authorities to confine weapons to the state.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had confirmed, after his meeting with President Aoun, that Lebanon would not enjoy peace as long as the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons remained, while the US State Department praised what it described as the Lebanese government’s efforts to restore state sovereignty and strengthen the role of legitimate institutions.
President Joseph Aoun’s visit to Washington is of exceptional importance, as it comes at a stage that witnesses the start of implementation of the “experimental zones” agreement in southern Lebanon, which is based on a gradual Israeli withdrawal and the deployment of the Lebanese army under the supervision of an international coordination mechanism. It also coincides with the escalation of American pressure to push the Lebanese state to confine weapons to official institutions, in exchange for Lebanese demands to obtain American guarantees to complete the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and strengthen support for the army. The meeting between Aoun and Trump is seen as a turning point that may shape the features of the next stage in Lebanese-American relations, and in the path of implementing the security understandings in the south.
