Donald Trump to meet Lebanon’s president as US pushes ahead with peace deal

{"text":[[{"start":12.1,"text":"Washington on Monday said operations in several “pilot zones” controlled by Lebanon’s army were set to begin as President Joseph Aoun prepared to meet Donald Trump at the White House."}],[{"start":22.799999999999997,"text":"The pilot zones — where Lebanon’s army is intended to have sole control as the Israeli army withdraws — are a critical feature of a temporary truce signed between Israel and Lebanon last month. It was reached as Iran, which backs Hizbollah in Lebanon, was insisting on a ceasefire there as a condition of pausing its conflict with the US."}],[{"start":42.75,"text":"On Tuesday, the Lebanese Armed Forces said they had begun deploying in the pilot-zone village of West Zawtar, where they had not been present, and were already operating in two other villages. "}],[{"start":53.45,"text":"The US announcement came as Aoun was on his first trip to Washington since taking office in 2025, the first such visit by a Lebanese head of state in almost two decades."}],[{"start":64.5,"text":"Aoun will meet Trump at the White House on Tuesday, where he was expected to present a plan for disarming Hizbollah and pressing for Israel’s withdrawal from territory it occupies in southern Lebanon, Lebanese officials said, in keeping with a June 26 framework agreement signed by both states."}],[{"start":82.4,"text":"Last week Aoun said he would ask Trump to “exert the necessary pressure on Israel” to implement the agreement, following concerns from Beirut that the deal has been stalling. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":92.95,"text":"That agreement — the product of several rounds of historic direct talks between Lebanon and Israel that were brokered by the US — did not specify a timeline by which Israel’s military would withdraw."}],[{"start":105.2,"text":"It has faced fierce criticism in Lebanon, where the deal is perceived as offering considerable concessions to Israel with little in return."}],[{"start":112.9,"text":"The Israeli military on Monday night confirmed the start of the pilot programme, “in co-operation with” the US military and Lebanese Armed Forces. One Israeli military official said the pilot was a “test of the [LAF’s] sovereignty” in three initial villages as the “sole authority authorised to bear arms”."}],[{"start":132.20000000000002,"text":"Hizbollah was not party to the agreement and has rejected it wholesale. "}],[{"start":136.00000000000003,"text":"Aoun’s visit comes at a pivotal time for Lebanon. Israeli troops have seized an area more than 10km inside Lebanese territory following several months of bruising conflict against Hizbollah."}],[{"start":148.00000000000003,"text":"More than 4,300 people have been killed in Lebanon, with a further more than 1mn displaced."}],[{"start":154.00000000000003,"text":"The worst of the fighting has subsided, but hundreds of thousands of people have been unable to return home due to Israel’s ongoing occupation and destruction of entire villages."}],[{"start":165.55000000000004,"text":"The US state department said “pilot zone operations” had begun in the villages of Froun, Srifa and West Zawtar. None of these villages fall within Israel’s occupation zone. Lebanon’s army said it was already operating in Froun and Srifa. "}],[{"start":181.40000000000003,"text":"The Lebanese army said it had begun deploying in West Zawtar on Tuesday morning. The Lebanese army added that people should not head to West Zawtar until the security situation stabilised. "}],[{"start":194.00000000000003,"text":"Later on Tuesday, the army said that Israeli forces had opened fire in the vicinity of Lebanese army units as they were deploying in West Zawtar. "}],[{"start":203.10000000000002,"text":"“These attacks could hinder the implementation of deployment measures in the pilot zones, which are occurring in the context of communication with the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon.” "}],[{"start":214.35000000000002,"text":"The group was created under the framework agreement and is made up of Israel, Lebanon and the US. "}],[{"start":220.85000000000002,"text":"Israel has maintained a strategic presence in the others but never consolidated control before the ceasefire paused the front line."}],[{"start":228.70000000000002,"text":"Regardless, Israeli officials maintain they will not fully withdraw from southern Lebanon."}],[{"start":233.8,"text":"The agreement specifies that the pilot zones initiative lays out a pathway for Israel’s military to “progressively redeploy out of” Lebanon and for Lebanon’s military to eventually become the sole authority in the country’s south, “pending the verified disarmament” of non-state armed groups — a reference to Hizbollah, which rejects all attempts to disarm it. "}],[{"start":254.9,"text":"However, details of the oversight mechanism and verification process are still being negotiated."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":261.15,"text":"Israeli officials have vowed that their troops would stay in the so-called security zone as long as Iran-backed Hizbollah remains armed."}],[{"start":269.65,"text":"Aoun, 62, was a career soldier and served as commander of Lebanon’s army before being elected president last year, a nomination endorsed by the US, which has long funded Lebanon’s armed forces. "}],[{"start":282.65,"text":"His government was hailed as a break with years of Hizbollah dominance over the state. His government pressed ahead with a plan to disarm Hizbollah. Lebanese troops deployed in southern Lebanon to clear Hizbollah weapons caches, with tacit co-operation from the group itself."}],[{"start":297.9,"text":"But those plans were abandoned when full-scale war returned to Lebanon in March, after Hizbollah fired rockets at Israel in support of Iran after it came under US and Israeli attack."}],[{"start":310.75,"text":"In Washington, much will rest on whether Aoun can charm Trump as some regional counterparts — Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa and Iraq’s Ali al-Zaidi — have managed to do. "}],[{"start":321.1,"text":"Aoun would need “to be realistic about what he can get out of Trump”, said Sami Halabi, the director of policy at Badil, a Beirut-based think-tank."}],[{"start":330.55,"text":"“Getting Donald Trump to accede to the need for Lebanese sovereignty over its entire territory verbally would be a step in the right direction,” said Halabi. Aoun “needs to come back home with something in his hand that he can sell as progress”, he said."}],[{"start":346.1,"text":"Additional reporting by Malaika Kanaaneh Tapper in Beirut "}],[{"start":356.7,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1784684359_6845.mp3"}