Trump presses Lebanon on Hezbollah as Aoun seeks US backing

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has urged US President Donald Trump to keep backing Lebanon’s army, warning that southern Lebanon risks sliding back into 1970s-style chaos without Washington’s support.

Speaking at the Oval Office on Tuesday, Aoun asked Trump to keep supporting Lebanon’s national army, expressing full confidence in the Lebanese Armed Forces and its leadership.

Aoun criticised Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon into war with Israel through rocket fire, and is now pushing Trump to lean on Israel to withdraw fully from southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese army began deploying on Tuesday to one of three “pilot zones” agreed with Israel, starting in the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiya. Hours later, the army said Israeli forces opened fire near its deploying units, warning the incident “will hinder the implementation of deployment in the pilot zones”.

Aoun’s visit marks the first time a Lebanese president has been welcomed to Washington since 2009.

Hezbollah outreach

Trump said that he would speak to Hezbollah if Aoun asked him to do it, adding that he is willing to engage with people others might oppose speaking to.

“I would speak to Hezbollah. I speak to everybody. I’ll speak to people that a lot of people think I shouldn’t be speaking to, and things work out,” said Trump.

“I would say this: if the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, you know he’s lived with Hezbollah for a long time, and if the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, I would.”

Asked about a full withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanon, Trump said Israeli forces were redeploying.

“They’re in the process of redeploying to other sections, and again, they get along very well. That was a great agreement they signed with Lebanon, and they’re redeploying,” he said.

Trump said Lebanon had been mistreated for a long time and deserved greater respect.