At the White House, Aoun seeks to win the peace he is selling

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun is received by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, DC on July 19, 2026. (AFP)

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Joseph Aoun will on Tuesday become the first sitting Lebanese head of state to walk into the Oval Office in 17 years — the last being Michel Sleiman, who was received by Barack Obama in 2009. Both the symbolism and the risks are real. Aoun arrives carrying a framework agreement, agreed to with Israel last month through US mediation, which promises an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament. He needs Donald Trump to turn that promise into something concrete. However, he may leave with a warm photo op and very little else.