Overview
- President Donald Trump met Lebanon’s Joseph Aoun on Tuesday and publicly pledged U.S. support while announcing the resumption of direct flights by U.S. carriers to Lebanon.
- Aoun asked Washington for expanded support for the underfunded Lebanese Armed Forces and warned that without a stronger army Lebanon could face collapse or renewed internal violence.
- The Lebanese army began deploying troops to Sautar al-Gharbija, one of three U.S.-agreed ‘pilot zones’ in southern Lebanon, as the first concrete step to implement the June framework for a phased Israeli withdrawal.
- Hezbollah remains armed and refuses disarmament or direct talks with Israel, a stance that complicates Beirut’s ability to meet Israeli conditions for a full pullback and puts the framework’s durability at risk.
- Lebanon faces severe economic strain and a poorly funded army despite long-standing U.S. aid of over $3 billion since 2006, and the latest announcements leave the scale and timing of new U.S. security assistance unresolved which will be decisive for lasting stability.