By Maya Gebeily and Tom Perry
BEIRUT, July 19 (Reuters) – Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will make his first journey to the White Home this week to current a plan to U.S. President Donald Trump on how you can disarm Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah and safe Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.
Aoun, who served because the commander of Lebanon’s U.S.-backed military earlier than being elected president final yr, is the primary Lebanese head of state in almost 20 years to go to the White Home, the place he’ll meet Trump face-to-face for the primary time.
Tuesday’s assembly comes at a vital second for Lebanon: Israeli troops are occupying a swathe of the nation’s south, tons of of hundreds of Lebanese stay displaced following Israeli strikes and Hezbollah has firmly rejected the federal government’s direct talks with Israel — and efforts by the state to strip it of its arms.
In feedback printed by his workplace final week, Aoun mentioned he would ask Trump to “exert the mandatory stress on Israel” to implement a U.S.-brokered June 26 settlement between Lebanon and Israel. That deal goals to disarm Hezbollah, see a progressive Israeli troop withdrawal and set the stage for peaceable ties between the 2 international locations.
A Lebanese official mentioned Aoun would current Trump with a written proposal on how you can decommission Hezbollah’s huge arsenal. The official saidAoun believes solely Trump possesses the leverage wanted to stress Israel to withdraw its troopsand assist Lebanon restore its sovereignty.
SEEKING HEZBOLLAH’S DISARMAMENT
Aoun, 62, grew to become president final yr simply earlier than Trump started his second time period within the White Home. The U.S. welcomed Aoun’s election.
Aoun is a Maronite Christian, as required by Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system which stipulates the prime minister should be Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament should be Shi’ite Muslim. A profession soldier, Aoun was wounded twice and nonetheless carries a shrapnel wound.
His rise mirrored a serious shift within the energy stability in Lebanon, following a devastating Israeli offensive towards Hezbollah in 2024 and the ousting of Hezbollah’s Syrian ally President Bashar al-Assad — seismic occasions that weakened the group and its long-decisive maintain over the state.
At his swearing-in ceremony, Aoun vowed to affirm “the state’s proper to a monopoly on arms”.
His presidency’s first yr was outlined by a authorities bid to safe the disarmament of Hezbollah, which was based by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982 and has fought quite a few wars with Israel.
Lebanese troops deployed in southern Lebanon to gather Hezbollah weapons caches, in keeping with a ceasefire after the 2024 warfare and with out opposition from a weakened Hezbollah.
A NEW WAR ERUPTS
However early into his time period’s second yr, a brand new warfare erupted when Hezbollah fired at Israel on March 2 in help of Iran, which was underneath U.S. and Israeli assault.
Hezbollah’s assault triggered a fierce Israeli air and floor marketing campaign that has killed greater than 4,300 folks, in line with Lebanon’s well being ministry, together with almost 800 youngsters, girls and medics.
The toll doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Hezbollah has not introduced a toll for its fighters.
After the warfare started, Aoun swiftly known as for direct talks with Israel, a historic departure for a state repeatedly invaded by Israel since 1978. It led to the highest-level face-to-face contacts in a long time between the 2 international locations.
It additionally made him the main focus of fierce criticism by Hezbollah and its supporters.
Aoun has stood agency, criticising Hezbollah for beginning the warfare and saying Lebanon was being destroyed for the sake of Iran.
Nonetheless, he has stopped in need of agreeing to Trump’s name for him to fulfill Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A MILITARY VETERAN
Aoun was born in Sin al-Fil, a suburb of jap Beirut. His household initially hails from south Lebanon. His first military task was as a platoon commander within the military rangers in 1985, throughout Lebanon’s 1975 to 1990 civil warfare.
Shortly after his promotion to commander, he oversaw a marketing campaign to rout Islamic State militants on the Syrian-Lebanese border.
He led the military via the disaster that adopted Lebanon’s monetary implosion of 2019, which devastated the Lebanese forex after a long time of state corruption and unhealthy governance.
On the time, Aoun warned that the disaster would result in the collapse of the Lebanese military, “the spine of the nation”.
In an unusually political assertion for a military commander, he criticised ruling politicians over the collapse, saying troopers had been going hungry together with the remainder of the inhabitants and asking politicians, “what do you propose to do?”
Aoun’s election ended a two-year presidential vacuum following the 2022 finish of the time period of Hezbollah ally Michel Aoun, who is not any relation.
He has pledged to work on long-delayed financial reforms and vowed justice for victims of the Beirut port explosion of 2020.
(Modifying by Gareth Jones)
