• Set to meet Trump after latest round of talks with Israel, seeks US support for ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal• Hezbollah holds mass funeral, stages rally to reject disarmament• Israeli strikes, border violence persist despite truce; US renews travel warning amid regional security tensions
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun left Beirut on Saturday for Washington, where he is expected to meet Donald Trump, his office said, after the latest round of Lebanon-Israel talks wrapped up in Italy.
Aoun will hold discussions “with several American officials on the situation in Lebanon and ways to strengthen the ceasefire”, particularly in the south, as well as on “the withdrawal of Israel from the Lebanese regions it occupies”, the presidency said.
It will be the first trip to Washington by a Lebanese head of state since Michel Sleiman was received by Barack Obama in 2009.
Israel and Lebanon, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, began US-sponsored negotiations in April aimed at reaching a peace deal and permanently ending the Israel-Hezbollah war.
