By Nandita Bose, Maya Gebeily and Tom Perry
WASHINGTON/BEIRUT, July 21 (Reuters) - Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time on Tuesday, when the two leaders huddled to discuss plansto disarm the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah and secure Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon.
Aoun, who served as the commander of Lebanon's U.S.-backed army before being elected president last year, became the first Lebanese head of state to visit the White House in nearly 20 years when he met Trump.
His nearly two-hour visit to the White House came as Israeli troops occupy a swath of the country's south and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese remain displaced following Israeli strikes. Hezbollah has rejected the government's direct talks with Israel as well as efforts by the state to disarm it.
"It's been a very badly treated place and country, and we're going to have it properly treated and treated with respect that it deserves," Trump said as he met Aoun in the White House's Oval Office. "There's a Hezbollah problem."
