Lebanon's President Brings Trump a Plan to Disarm Hezbollah and a Plea for Israel to Pull Back

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday, capping a four-day visit to Washington in which he sought direct American pressure on Israel to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon in exchange for a written plan to disarm the militant group Hezbollah.

Aoun, a former army commander who took office promising to reassert state control over the country, came prepared to present Trump with a detailed roadmap for stripping Hezbollah of its weapons — a step long demanded by Washington and Israel but fiercely resisted by the Iran-backed group that has dominated Lebanon's south for decades. In return, Aoun pressed for guarantees that Israeli troops would complete a phased pullback from Lebanese territory.

The visit built on a "framework agreement" that Lebanon and Israel announced on June 26, which set out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from the south alongside the disarmament of Hezbollah. The U.S. State Department said Monday that operations had begun in three villages designated a "pilot zone," where Lebanese army troops are to confiscate Hezbollah's weapons as Israeli forces withdraw in stages.

Aoun met Sunday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said Washington would continue to endorse the arrangement and support its full implementation. The choreography reflected a rare moment of momentum in a conflict that has flared repeatedly along the Israel-Lebanon border, testing a fragile truce and killing civilians on both sides even as diplomats worked to widen the ceasefire.

The stakes for Aoun are high. His government has staked its credibility on the promise of a Lebanese state that holds a monopoly on force, an idea that directly challenges Hezbollah's status as an armed movement more powerful than the national army. Persuading the group to give up its arsenal without triggering a domestic crisis is among the most delicate tasks any Lebanese leader has faced, and Aoun has argued that only visible progress toward an Israeli withdrawal can give him the political room to press ahead.

For Trump, the meeting offered a chance to claim a diplomatic win in a region where his administration has veered between threats and deal-making. Whether the "pilot zone" expands into a broader withdrawal — or collapses under the weight of mutual mistrust — will help determine if the U.S.-brokered framework becomes a durable peace or another short-lived pause in a decades-old confrontation.