US President Donald Trump vowed Tuesday to help Lebanon "a lot" as its president, Joseph Aoun, sought Washington's backing for a fragile effort to disarm Hezbollah and forge a path to peace with Israel.
Meeting Aoun at the White House, Trump said Lebanon had been "a very mistreated country" that had been "hit hard" for decades.
"It's probably a dangerous place in a lot of ways," Trump told reporters. "But they love the country... and we're going to help it. We're going to help it a lot."
Aoun, the first Lebanese president invited to Washington since 2009, asked Trump for political support and continued backing for the Lebanese army, which has begun deploying in southern areas under a US-backed framework agreement with Israel.
"We need to support the LAF," Aoun said, referring to the Lebanese Armed Forces. "Without the LAF, everything will collapse."
