This handout photograph released by the Lebanese Presidency press office on July 19, 2026 shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun being received by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, DC.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on July 21, seeking greater pressure on Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon as Washington pushes Beirut to disarm Hezbollah.
The talks follow the launch of operations in three U.S.-backed “pilot zones” intended to test a phased security arrangement in the south. The U.S. State Department identified the villages as Froun, Srifa and Zawtar al-Gharbiya.
Under the framework agreed by Lebanon, Israel and the United States in June, Israeli forces are to withdraw as the Lebanese army assumes security responsibility and removes weapons and infrastructure belonging to non-state armed groups, a provision widely understood to refer to Hezbollah.
Lebanese forces were already operating in Froun and Srifa, where no Israeli ground troops were present.
The army said coordination was still underway for its deployment in Zawtar al-Gharbiya, an area held by Israel.
Aoun said last week that he would ask Trump “to exert the necessary pressures on Israel to implement what was agreed upon in the framework deal.”
He is also expected to seek additional U.S. assistance for the Lebanese army.
Israel has said it will not complete its withdrawal while Hezbollah remains armed, a demand echoed by Washington.
Aoun met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on July 19.
Rubio praised the Lebanese government’s efforts to restore state sovereignty and disarm Hezbollah.
“The biggest problem Lebanon has is that you have a political movement that also has an armed militia,” Rubio later told reporters.
“As long as that problem exists, Lebanon will never fully be at peace.”
Aoun, a former army commander elected president in January 2025, has repeatedly criticized Hezbollah for drawing Lebanon into the regional conflict and has pledged to place all weapons under state control.
Hezbollah has rejected both disarmament and the Lebanon-Israel negotiations underpinning the framework.
The latest fighting began in March after Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of Iran, prompting a large-scale Israeli offensive. More than 4,300 people have since been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.
Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, said Aoun’s meeting with Trump showed continued U.S. interest in Lebanon but raised questions over what further steps Washington might demand from Beirut.
Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute, said Trump would likely seek further evidence that Aoun was serious about disarming Hezbollah. He added that Aoun could use the visit to oppose any proposal for Syrian forces to enter Lebanon to confront the group.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has said Damascus has no intention of intervening.
Aoun is the first Lebanese president to visit Washington for talks with a U.S. president since Michel Sleiman met Barack Obama in 2009.
