US President Donald Trump greets Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House on Tuesday. AFPInfoPresident Aoun wants US to help fund reconstruction and relief package for southern LebanonLebanese President Joseph Aoun met Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday as he sought to persuade the US leader to push for Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon. Their meeting is expected to focus on the implementation of a fragile framework agreement with Israel. It follows two days of US-mediated talks in Rome that ended without a timetable for the agreement to be implemented.Israeli troops this week withdrew from three villages in southern Lebanon known as “pilot zones”. A more meaningful withdrawal, however, hinges on the disarmament of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which was not involved in the US-sponsored agreement with Israel. Mr Aoun also wants the US to donate funds towards a reconstruction and relief package after large areas of southern Lebanon were devastated by Israeli strikes, as well as greater US support for the Lebanese Armed Forces. At least 4,250 people have been killed in Lebanon since March, according to the government, while about a million others have been displaced.There are major challenges for Mr Aoun. Israel has insisted it will not leave Lebanon until it is satisfied that Hezbollah no longer poses a threat, and Hezbollah has rejected the framework agreement outright and opposes any effort to disarm under the current terms.Mr Trump views the Lebanese President as a vital partner in the disarmament of Hezbollah, a major goal of the US. Experts warn, however, that the standstill in US-Iran ceasefire negotiations is likely to weigh heavily on the efforts in Lebanon. “Successful disarmament across the globe has consistently been a political process,” said Timothy Kaldas, deputy director at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. “It requires durable ceasefires to succeed.” The Lebanese army said on Tuesday that Israeli forces opened fire near its troops during operations to take control of villages from which Israeli forces had withdrawn. Mr Aoun is meanwhile facing domestic pressure over the agreement, with opponents arguing it places heavy obligations on Lebanon while offering few concrete guarantees from Israel. The 14-clause framework refers to an Israeli “redeployment” rather than a “withdrawal”, which critics say implicitly legitimises Israel's military presence in Lebanese territory.“The framework demands immediate demonstrations of sovereignty from Lebanon while treating Israel's violations of Lebanese sovereignty as a matter for eventual negotiation,” said Sami Halabi, director of policy at the Beirut think tank Badil. “Lebanon's obligations in this sense are front-loaded; they're measurable.” Another controversial provision limits Lebanon's ability to pursue legal action against Israel over its operations during the conflict.Updated: July 21, 2026, 3:29 PM