Trump-Aoun meeting: Pressure on Israel, Abraham Accords, and talks with Hezbollah
Aoun-Trump meeting: US President weighs pressure on Israel for withdrawal from south, and speaks about al-Sharaa’s desire to intervene
US President Donald Trump hosted Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House on Tuesday, in the first visit by a Lebanese president to Washington since 2009, where the two sides discussed pressure on Israel for withdrawal from southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s accession to the Abraham Accords, alongside a US proposal for a potential Syrian role against Hezbollah and Trump’s readiness to talk to the party, according to news agencies.
Historic meeting at the White House
President Trump said US-Lebanon relations are “good,” praising his Lebanese counterpart and describing him as “highly respected.” He added that the two sides held “good meetings,” expressing his belief that Washington is capable of “solving many of the problems” related to Lebanon.
Lebanon’s accession to the Abraham Accords
Trump expressed confidence that a large number of countries would soon join the Abraham Accords to normalize relations with Israel, noting that Lebanon would have an important position in this process.
Trump said: “I think you’re going to see a large number of countries joining these agreements soon… and I see Lebanon having a very important place in this process.” He stressed that the Abraham Accords have achieved “great success.”
Trump had called in May on a number of Arab and Islamic countries to join the peace agreements with Israel, should Washington reach an agreement with Iran. The White House clarified that the accession of Islamic countries to the agreements is seen in Washington as a natural extension of any potential agreement with Iran, and not a mandatory condition for its conclusion.
The Abraham Accords are a series of normalization agreements between Israel and a number of Arab countries, announced in 2020 under the Trump administration during his first presidential term, signed first by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with Israel in September of the same year, before Morocco and Sudan later joined them.
Trump: al-Sharaa wants to intervene
Trump said his Syrian counterpart Ahmad al-Sharaa “wants to intervene against Hezbollah,” considering that such a step could be “effective” as the latter “has fought for a long time against the party.”
Trump added: “We have very good relations with the Syrian president,” and that al-Sharaa “has succeeded in uniting Syria,” and that he “wants to do something against Hezbollah.” He continued: “Al-Sharaa has been fighting Hezbollah for a long time, and I think that would be very effective.”
Trump noted that he had repeated on more than one occasion his proposal to assign the task of confronting Hezbollah to Syria instead of Israel, claiming that al-Sharaa “promised he would provide assistance in the Hezbollah issue.”
For his part, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa denied any intention of military intervention in Lebanon, stressing that the priority is rebuilding Syria, and that his country is looking for “economic channels between Lebanon and Syria, not military ones.” He also described reports of a possible Syrian military intervention as “completely untrue.”
Trump ready to talk to Hezbollah
Trump said he would be ready to talk to Hezbollah if the Lebanese president asked him to, noting that Aoun “has lived with the party for a long time.”
Trump told Aoun: “If the president wants me to talk to Hezbollah, you know, he lived with Hezbollah for a long time, I will do that.” He also spoke about Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, saying he is a “good person,” adding that “when he sees the progress we have made, he will join us.”
Trump did not clarify the nature of any potential communication with Hezbollah or the framework in which it could take place.
Additional US pressure on Israel for withdrawal
Trump announced that the United States would consider the possibility of exerting additional pressure on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon.
Trump’s statements came against the backdrop of the Lebanese army’s accusation that Israeli forces had bombed its positions in the “pilot zone” in the town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya, reflecting continued tensions despite the signing of the framework agreement between the two countries.
Zawtar al-Gharbiya is one of the pilot zones agreed upon within the security arrangements, where a Lebanese army mechanized convoy entered after Israeli forces had previously withdrawn from it. This step aims to enable the Lebanese army to demonstrate its ability to maintain security and stability in the region.
The Israeli military had earlier announced that it would remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon “as long as Hezbollah has not disarmed.” The framework agreement also stipulated that Israel’s withdrawal is conditional on “disarming non-governmental armed groups and dismantling their infrastructure.”
An agreement to establish the first “pilot zone” was reached on July 15, following the sixth round of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations held in Rome, as part of implementing the framework agreement signed in Washington on June 26.
Diplomatic joke
Trump drew laughter from those present during the meeting when Aoun told him: “I have been looking forward to this visit for a long time. And I have been looking forward to meeting a great president like you.” Trump replied: “See? He knows how to win me over!” and added: “He can get anything! Now, he can get anything.”
Broader regional and diplomatic context
These developments come days after the Lebanese army announced the start of its deployment in Zawtar al-Gharbiya as part of the first phase of the pilot zones under the framework agreement, amid ongoing tensions with Israel. Trump had met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, confirming that he signed an executive order last month ending the US sanctions program on Syria.
الرئيس اللبناني عون: كنت أتطلع لهذه الزيارة منذ وقت طويل لمقابلة رئيس عظيم مثلك
ترامب يرد: إنه يعرف كيف يصل إلي.. والآن يمكنه الحصول على أي شيء يريده! pic.twitter.com/OjQh78zaeT
— Tamer | تامر (@tamerqdh) July 21, 2026
