Aoun seeks Trump backing for Israel pullback as south Lebanon ‘pilot zones’ begin

Aoun seeks Trump backing for Israel pullback as south Lebanon ‘pilot zones’ begin

Submitted by
Adam Chamseddine
on
Tue, 07/21/2026 - 13:34

Beirut touts the Lebanese president’s Washington trip as proof direct talks work, but critics fear the agreement with Israel could draw the army into confrontation with Hezbollah

A Lebanese army vehicle drives past first responders near the entrance to the southern village of Zawtar al-Gharbiya as troops deploy to the village on 21 July 2026 (Fadel Itani/AFP)

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Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is in Washington for a high-stakes meeting with US President Donald Trump, as the first “pilot zone” operations under a US-brokered framework agreement with Israel began in southern Lebanon.

The visit, which includes meetings with senior US officials, Lebanese diaspora figures and Washington-based think tanks, is being viewed in Beirut as one of the most consequential foreign trips of Aoun’s presidency.

It is the first visit by a Lebanese head of state to the White House in nearly two decades, and follows the highest-level Lebanese meetings with a US president since former Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Barack Obama in 2011.

Aoun met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday, ahead of his scheduled meeting with Trump on Tuesday. Rubio said Washington remained committed to supporting the June trilateral framework agreement and Lebanon’s efforts to deliver “security, peace and a better future” for its people.

The Washington visit comes after six rounds of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to end the war, mediated by the United States. The fifth round, held in Washington, produced the framework agreement on 26 June, while the sixth round took place in Rome last week.

For Aoun, the trip to Washington is not merely diplomatic. Sources close to the presidential palace told Middle East Eye that Lebanon had worked hard to secure the visit and the meeting with Trump, viewing it as essential to strengthen Aoun’s image at home and to show that the direct negotiations track can produce results.

Aoun’s argument, according to those sources, is that negotiations can achieve what war has not: a halt to fighting, the return of displaced residents, Lebanese army deployment in the south, and an Israeli pullback from Lebanese territory, even if the text refers to it as “redeployment” rather than withdrawal.

US pressure sought on Israel 

The framework agreement provides for the deployment of the Lebanese army in "pilot zones" evacuated by Israel - which occupies part of the south of the country - to take over the task of disarming Hezbollah.

On Monday, US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said pilot zone operations had begun in the villages of Froun, Srifa and Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, under the framework agreement and the new Military Coordination Group for Lebanon led by Washington.

The Lebanese army later said its units had begun deploying in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh based on contacts with the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon.

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It called on civilians not to head to the town until the security situation stabilises and to follow the instructions of deployed troops.

According to a senior military official, the situation in the three pilot zones is not uniform. The official told MEE that Froun and Srifa were not directly occupied by Israeli troops, and the Lebanese army already maintained deployments there, but the areas remained under Israeli military oversight and control.

By contrast, Israeli forces were still physically present in parts of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, where the army’s deployment was tied to the ongoing arrangements through the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon.

A senior Lebanese official familiar with the Washington visit told MEE that the US side had been “receptive and understanding” of Lebanon’s argument that visible Israeli steps are needed to present the framework as a Lebanese achievement, not merely as a list of Lebanese obligations.

According to the official, Aoun is expected to ask Trump to use US leverage to compel Israel to implement the pilot zones agreed in the framework.

However, the same official said there were concerns in Beirut that Israel would seek to break the implementation of the three pilot zones into a slower “wait-and-see” sequence: beginning with Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, assessing the Lebanese army’s performance in removing Hezbollah assets, and only then deciding whether to move to the other areas.

That prospect has deepened Lebanese scepticism over whether Israel intends to implement the framework as a path to withdrawal, or use it as a mechanism to test the Lebanese army, pressure Hezbollah and justify a prolonged military presence in what Israeli officials have described as a security zone.

Lebanese fault lines

The framework agreement has already drawn sharp criticism in Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the agreement, calling it a surrender of sovereignty and opposing any link between Israeli withdrawal and Hezbollah’s disarmament. Critics have also pointed to the absence of the word “withdrawal” from the text and the lack of clear enforcement guarantees.

Others have criticised the agreement for relying heavily on Washington, Israel’s main military and diplomatic backer, to enforce the deal.

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Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has also criticised the agreement’s failure to reference the 1949 Armistice Agreement, which he described as a foundation of relations between Lebanon and Israel and part of the Lebanese political architecture reaffirmed in constitutional and government texts.

Supporters of the framework argue however that it recognises Lebanon’s authority over its territory and offers a first step toward restoring state sovereignty in the south.

The domestic divide leaves Aoun walking a narrow path.

His supporters argue that direct negotiations, however politically costly, are the only available route to end the war and restore state authority.

His opponents fear the process could impose Israeli conditions on Lebanon, weaken its legal and diplomatic options, and push the Lebanese army toward confrontation with Hezbollah.

One Lebanese source briefed on the negotiations told MEE the central risk is that Israel may use any delay, friction or incomplete Lebanese army deployment as evidence that Lebanon cannot implement the framework.

That, the source said, could allow Israel to claim that continued occupation of parts of the south is necessary until the Lebanese state proves it can exercise full sovereignty and prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its presence.

Aoun’s visit therefore carries consequences beyond the optics of a White House meeting. If Trump presses Israel to implement the first pilot zones and move toward a clearer withdrawal timetable, Aoun could return to Beirut with proof that his diplomatic gamble has delivered.

But if the process stalls, or if Israel turns the pilot zones into an open-ended test of the Lebanese army’s willingness to confront Hezbollah, the visit could instead deepen the very faultlines Aoun is trying to manage.

For Lebanon, the Washington trip could mark the beginning of a negotiated exit from war. It could also set the country on a collision course between Israeli demands, US pressure, Hezbollah’s red lines and the fragile limits of the Lebanese state.

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