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Trump Promises Lebanon 'Respect' As President Joseph Aoun Visits White House
Sagarika Chakraborty | July 22, 2026 1:41 AM CST

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Lebanon had suffered for decades and pledged that the United States would support the country going forward during a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House.

During their Oval Office meeting, Trump said Lebanon would receive the respect it deserved.

"It's been a very badly treated place and country, and we're going to have it properly treated, and treated with the respect that it deserves," Trump said.

High-Stakes Meeting At The White House

According to a Reuters report, Aoun's visit was aimed at presenting a plan to disarm the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah and secure Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

Aoun, who served as commander of Lebanon's US-backed army before being elected president last year, is the first Lebanese head of state to visit the White House in nearly 20 years. Tuesday's meeting marked his first face-to-face talks with Trump.

The meeting comes as Israeli troops continue to occupy parts of southern Lebanon, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese remain displaced following Israeli strikes, and Hezbollah has rejected both direct talks between Lebanon and Israel and government efforts to disarm the group.

Lebanon Pushes For Israeli Withdrawal

Aoun arrived in Washington over the weekend and met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday. During the meeting, he said Israel should begin withdrawing from southern Lebanon in line with the US-brokered June 26 agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

The agreement aims to disarm Hezbollah, facilitate a phased Israeli troop withdrawal and lay the groundwork for peaceful relations between the two countries.

Hours before Aoun met Trump, Lebanese army troops began taking control of areas vacated by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, marking the first test of the agreement.

A Lebanese official said Aoun believes only Trump has the leverage to persuade Israel to withdraw its troops and help Lebanon restore its sovereignty. The official also said Aoun planned to present Trump with a written proposal outlining how Hezbollah's weapons arsenal could be decommissioned.

A Presidency Shaped By Regional Conflict

Joseph Aoun, 62, became Lebanon's president shortly before Trump began his second term in office. The United States welcomed his election.

A Maronite Christian, Aoun was elected under Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, which requires the president to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister to be a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament to be a Shi'ite Muslim.

A career soldier, Aoun was wounded twice during his military service and still carries a shrapnel wound.

His election followed a major shift in Lebanon's political landscape after Israel's 2024 offensive against Hezbollah and the fall of Hezbollah's Syrian ally, President Bashar al-Assad, developments that weakened the group's influence over the Lebanese state.

At his swearing-in ceremony, Aoun pledged to uphold "the state's right to a monopoly on arms."

Hezbollah Disarmament Remains Central Challenge

The first year of Aoun's presidency focused on government efforts to secure Hezbollah's disarmament. The Iran-backed group, founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, has fought multiple wars with Israel.

Lebanese troops were deployed in southern Lebanon to collect Hezbollah weapons caches under the ceasefire that followed the 2024 war, without opposition from the weakened group.

However, early in Aoun's second year in office, fighting resumed after Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel on March 2 in support of Iran during the conflict involving the United States and Israel.

According to Lebanon's health ministry, the conflict has killed more than 4,300 people, including nearly 800 children, women and medics. The ministry's figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, while Hezbollah has not released casualty figures for its fighters.

Calls For Dialogue With Israel

After the latest conflict began, Aoun called for direct talks with Israel, marking a significant shift for Lebanon, which has faced repeated Israeli invasions since 1978. The move resulted in the highest-level face-to-face contacts between the two countries in decades.

His position drew strong criticism from Hezbollah and its supporters.

Aoun has continued to criticise Hezbollah for initiating the war, saying Lebanon was being destroyed for the sake of Iran.

However, he has not agreed to Trump's request that he hold a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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