Lebanon's Aoun to press Trump for Israeli withdrawal and Hezbollah disarmament in first White House visit since 2009

A historic visit

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun departed Beirut for Washington on Saturday, embarking on the first White House visit by a Lebanese head of state since Michel Sleiman met Barack Obama in 2009. The trip, at Donald Trump's invitation, will culminate in a face-to-face meeting on Tuesday, the presidency said. Aoun, a 62-year-old Maronite Christian and former army commander, was elected president last year just before Trump began his second term. A career soldier wounded twice, he still carries a shrapnel wound. His rise reflected a power shift after a devastating Israeli offensive against Hezbollah in 2024 and the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, events that weakened the Iran-backed group.

The disarmament proposal

Aoun will present Trump with a written plan to decommission Hezbollah's massive arsenal, a Lebanese official told Reuters. The proposal is tied to the U.S.-brokered June 26 framework agreement that envisions progressive Israeli troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon and eventual peaceful ties. Aoun believes only Trump has the leverage to pressure Israel into compliance. In comments published by his office last week, Aoun said he would ask Trump to

exert the necessary pressure on Israel

to implement the deal. At his swearing-in, he had vowed to affirm "the state's right to a monopoly on arms." The disarmament push is central to his presidency, but Hezbollah has firmly rejected direct talks with Israel and efforts to strip it of its weapons.

A fragile ceasefire

The visit comes as Israel still occupies a self-declared buffer zone in southern Lebanon, with hundreds of thousands of Lebanese displaced. A ceasefire has largely held since mid-April, but fighting persists. Direct political talks between Lebanon and Israel, mediated by the U.S., began that month for the first time in decades. Hezbollah is not a party to the negotiations, and the Lebanese government is not a belligerent in the conflict, complicating the process. After talks in Rome on Wednesday, Lebanese government circles reported "visible progress," according to ORF. The discussions aim for Israeli troops to withdraw from two areas in the south, with the Lebanese military moving in to disarm and remove Hezbollah fighters.

Regional context

The current crisis erupted in March when Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel in retaliation for a U.S.-Israeli offensive on Iran. Israel responded with an extensive air and ground campaign that killed over 4,300 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry, and displaced hundreds of thousands. The Lebanese army was deployed in the south to take over Hezbollah weapons depots under the 2024 ceasefire, but the situation deteriorated again. Aoun's government tried and failed to forbid Hezbollah from striking Israel. The group, founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, has fought numerous wars with Israel and remains a formidable force despite recent setbacks.

What's at stake

Aoun's office said he will discuss "ways to strengthen the ceasefire" and "the withdrawal of Israel from the Lebanese regions it occupies." The success of the Washington talks could determine whether the June 26 framework translates into concrete steps: Israeli forces pulling back, the Lebanese military assuming control, and Hezbollah's disarmament proceeding. For Aoun, the meeting is a test of his presidency's central promise to restore state sovereignty over all arms. The outcome will also shape the trajectory of U.S. mediation efforts and the fragile stability in southern Lebanon.