BEIRUT: Lebanon is looking to Tuesday’s summit between President Joseph Aoun and US President Donald Trump as a rare opening to advance its interests and test the newly signed US-brokered framework with Israel.
It will be the first meeting between a Lebanese and a US president since 2009, ending a 17-year gap in direct presidential diplomacy between Beirut and Washington — and one that carries highly significant strategic implications.
The summit is expected to revive direct presidential diplomacy between Beirut and Washington, which have long fluctuated between political patronage and stringent security conditions over the past decades.
Aoun is also expected to press Trump for US help in securing an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, strengthening the Lebanese Army and advancing implementation of the framework agreement signed last month under US sponsorship, which comes at a time when Israel occupies one-third of Lebanese territory, amid regional developments with a profound impact on the situation in Lebanon.
According to a Lebanese official who spoke to Arab News, Aoun will present Trump with a set of demands that include completing the Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Lebanese territory, extending state authority over the entire country, enabling the return of displaced residents to southern villages and launching reconstruction efforts.
