Lebanon's president will meet with Trump in Washington to push for Israeli troop withdrawal

Lebanon's president will meet with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday to wrap up a four-day visit to Washington, in a bid for long-term calm after months of war at home between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Joseph Aoun's first-ever meeting with Trump comes as Lebanon and Israel hold rare direct talks mediated by Washington. This is the first visit by a Lebanese president to the White House since 2009. Lebanon hopes the talks will result in Israeli troops withdrawing from large swaths of southern Lebanon that they currently occupy, and the Lebanese military receiving support to assert full control in areas where Hezbollah militants had held sway. Lebanon and Israel announced a “framework agreement” on June 26, setting a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw and for the disarmament of Hezbollah, which for decades had a strong presence in southern Lebanon. It also lays out steps toward an eventual peace agreement between the countries, which have never held formal diplomatic ties and have been nominally in a state of war for nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment. The US State Department announced Monday that operations in three villages deemed part of a “pilot zone” had begun, without giving details. Two of the villages, Froun and Srifa, are not under Israeli military control and the Lebanese army is present, while Israeli forces are in part of Zawtar al-Gharbieh.