Trump Pledges Major Help For Lebanon, Allows Direct U.S. Flights After 40-Plus Years

Flights, pledges, and talks

President Donald Trump pledged to help Lebanon “a lot” during a White House meeting on Tuesday with Joseph Aoun, as Aoun pushed for long-term calm after months of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Trump said, “We’re gonna help it a lot,” and the AP reported that direct U.S. flights to Lebanon could potentially resume. Hours later, Trump announced on social media that he would allow American carriers to resume direct flights to Lebanon for the first time in 40-plus years after the U.S. suspended the route.

The AP said direct flights between the U.S. and Lebanon were suspended in 1985 by the Reagan administration following the hijacking of TWA Flight 847. Lebanon hopes the Washington talks result in Israeli troops withdrawing from large swaths of southern Lebanon and in the Lebanese military receiving support to assert full control in areas where Hezbollah militants had held sway.

Reporting for this sectionAP News

Hezbollah and pilot zones

Trump told Aoun, “There’s a Hezbollah problem,” and suggested he personally could speak with the group if Aoun wanted him to.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said the June 26 framework agreement set a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw and for the disarmament of Hezbollah, with implementation beginning in small “pilot zones.”

The U.S. State Department said Monday that operations in three villages of one pilot zone had begun, including Froun and Srifa and the third village Zawtar al-Gharbieh.

A Lebanese military official said the Lebanese army was unsure whether Israeli forces had been in Zawtar al-Gharbieh before Tuesday, while an Israeli military official said Israeli forces had not been in Zawtar al-Gharbieh “for quite a time” and “we didn’t withdraw from there.”

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette also said the Lebanese army urged residents to rely on “established coordination and communication channels, instead of resorting to aggression.”

Reporting for this sectionAP NewsThe Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Deployments, disputes, and leverage

A senior Lebanese security official said the army began deploying in the town of Zoutr al-Gharbiyah in southern Lebanon after Israeli forces withdrew from the area, as part of a plan brokered by the United States. The jeddah-based report said the plan called for the Lebanese army to seize Hezbollah weapons in parts of southern Lebanon, while Israeli forces withdrew gradually under the “Pilot Safe Zone” label. An AFP photographer reported a large plume of smoke rising from a neighboring town after a loud blast, which the National News Agency (NNA) said was a “large explosion” carried out by the “enemy army” in Kfar Tibnit.

The jeddah-based report also quoted Trump saying, “I will talk to Hezbollah if you want,” and said Aoun thanked Trump for the “historic achievement” of signing the framework agreement with Israel. The AP said the June 26 agreement also laid out steps toward an eventual Israel-Lebanon peace agreement, with the two countries having never had formal diplomatic ties and being nominally in a state of war for nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment.

Reporting for this sectionAP News