'I would speak to Hezbollah': Trump tells Lebanon's president as peace talks advance - EUROPE SAYS
WASHINGTON (TNND) — Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday as Beirut seeks U. S. support to stabilize southern Lebanon and advance aU. S. -backed framework. . .
WASHINGTON (TNND) — Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday as Beirut seeks U. S. support to stabilize southern Lebanon and advance aU. S. -backed framework agreementaimed at ending decades of hostilities with Israel. The two leaders shook hands outside the White House before Trump called Aoun “highly respected” and unexpectedly invited reporters into the Oval Office for what had originally been scheduled as a closed-door bilateral meeting. It marked the first visit by a Lebanese president to the White House since 2009. Aoun is pressing for Israeli troops to withdraw from parts of southern Lebanon they continue to occupy while seeking continued U. S. political and military support for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) as it works to replace Hezbollah’s influence in the south. “I told him I need two things from you: political support and supporting of the LAF,” Aoun said, referring to the Lebanese Armed Forces. “The LAF is the backbone of security and stability. Without the LAF, everything will collapse. ”Aoun thanked Trump for helping broker the June 26 framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel, calling it a historic step toward ending the conflict. “I want to thank President Trump and his team for the historic achievement that we did together by signing the framework with the ultimate objective of ending the state of hostility between Lebanon and Israel forever,” Aoun said. “It’s about time for Lebanon and for the whole region to be stable and secure. I know your vision is peace. Your vision is stability, and I think my vision coincides with your vision. ”Trump replied: “We’re going to make it work. ”Trump also signaled he would be willing to communicate directly with Hezbollah if Aoun believed it would help move the peace effort forward. “I would speak to Hezbollah. Yeah, I speak to everybody,” Trump said. “I’ll speak to people that a lot of people think I shouldn’t be speaking to, and things work out. ”Trump told Lebanon’s president in the Oval Office he would speak to Hezbollah if he needed to. (POOL)Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Aoun met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whoreaffirmed U. S. support for implementingthe agreement and called it “the beginning of the beginning. ”“As I told all the parties here today, it’s the beginning of the beginning,” Rubio said. “There’s a lot of work ahead. We don’t in any way underestimate the difficulty of the task ahead, but we understand the importance of it. ”The State Department said Rubio also reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to helping Lebanon restore peace, economic recovery and long-term stability. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in June that Israel would withdraw from portions of southern Lebanon while maintaining troops in other areas until Hezbollah is disarmed. The agreement outlines a path toward an eventual peace deal between Israel and Lebanon, which have never established formal diplomatic relations and have technically remained in a state of war since Israel’s founding in 1948. Implementation, however, remains uneven. The State Department announced Monday that operations had begun in three villagesdesignated as part of a “pilot zone. ”Two of the villages — Froun and Srifa — are already under Lebanese military control, while Israeli forces remain in parts of Zawtar al-Gharbieh. The Lebanese military said Tuesday it was preparing to deploy troops to Zawtar al-Gharbieh once Israeli forces withdrew. Israel said it would adjust its military posture to allow the deployment, though it did not identify the location. Later Tuesday, the Lebanese militaryaccused Israeli troops of opening firenear Zawtar al-Gharbieh, warning the incident could delay the deployment. TheIsraeli military saidIDF soldiers “operating in the area fired warning shots into the air only, which did not endanger the Lebanese Armed Forces personnel, in order to distance them from the area. The Lebanese Armed Forces personnel withdrew from the area, and no injuries were reported. ”Asked about the reported gunfire, Trump said he had only recently been briefed. “We’ll be looking at that,” he said, adding that Israeli forces are “in the process” of redeploying. Trump also said the United States already has “very concrete plans” to continue supporting the Lebanese military. “We’re speaking about that today with the president,” Trump said. “They’re also becoming much more self-sufficient. ”The president also floated the possibility of Syria playing a role in disarming Hezbollah, calling it “a concept” and saying Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa “has been fighting Hezbollah for a long time. ”“I think it’d be very effective,” Trump said. Lebanon’s government, which took office on a reform platform earlier this year, has pledged to disarm all non-state armed groups, including Hezbollah. Officials have blamed Hezbollah for dragging the country into another conflict with Israel in March after thegroup fired rockets into northern Israelfollowing U. S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. At the same time, Beirut has condemned Israel’s ground offensive and air campaign in Lebanon, which has killed more than 4,000 people and displaced an estimated 1. 2 million. Trump said Lebanon had “been treated very incredibly badly” because of Iran and Hezbollah but expressed optimism that the new framework agreement could help change the country’s trajectory. When asked what concrete results Aoun would leave Washington with, Trump declined to elaborate. “You’ll find out,” he said. _____Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.