“It’s been a very badly treated place and country and we’re going to have it properly treated and treated with the respect it deserves,” Trump told Aoun during a meeting which wrapped up the Lebanese leader's four-day visit to Washington. “We’re gonna help it a lot," he said, without giving concrete details.
The U.S. has pushed for peace in Lebanon but been increasingly distracted by a new round of escalation with the war in Iran, which has destabilized much of the Middle East. On Wednesday, Trump said he had little interest in talks with Iran's leader to end the war — at least for now.
Lebanon and Israel have held rare direct talks mediated by Washington. Aoun's White House visit was the first by a Lebanese president since 2009.
Lebanon hopes the talks 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.
Trump said of Israel’s army fully withdrawing from Lebanon, “They’re in the process of doing that. They’re in the process of redeploying” but didn't elaborate.
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 has 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.
Aoun on Sunday met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said Washington will continue to endorse the Lebanese agreement and support its full implementation. Rubio described the meeting as “very positive” and warned that Lebanon will “never be fully at peace” as long as the Hezbollah issue is not resolved.
“How do you replace Hezbollah? You defeat and replace them with a government that is strong enough to be the sole force of arms in the country,” Rubio said.
Israeli officials, meanwhile, have said they plan to keep military forces long-term in a “security zone” in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s government came to power on a reformist platform in early 2025, vowing to disarm all non-state groups including Hezbollah. It blames Hezbollah for dragging the country into another war with Israel in March, when the terrorist group fired several rockets toward northern Israel two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
