Aoun meets Trump at the White House today; Washington announces immediate implementation of "pilot zones"
Washington – Mansour Shaaban and Agencies
Lebanese President General Joseph Aoun and U.S. President Donald Trump held a bilateral summit at the White House today, an event reminiscent of two previous summits: the first between Presidents Amin Gemayel and Ronald Reagan, and the second between General Michel Suleiman and Barack Obama. The common thread among these three summits is Lebanon’s peace, following wars fought on its soil.
The initial results of President Aoun’s visit, which began on Saturday, appeared to emerge yesterday, as the United States announced the implementation of “pilot areas” in southern Lebanon, in accordance with the “framework agreement” signed by the Lebanese and Israeli governments last June.
The U.S. State Department announced in a statement the commencement of “pilot area operations in the villages of Faroun, Sarifa, and Zouitir al-Gharbi, in compliance with the trilateral framework agreement and under the supervision of the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon.”
Ibrahim Marad, head of the Universal Syriac Association, welcomed “the historic and pivotal visit being made by Lebanese President General Joseph Aoun to the United States, in response to an official invitation from U.S. President Donald Trump,” describing it as “a rare national and strategic opportunity to re-establish Lebanon’s position within the international community, restore its sovereign decision-making, and launch a new phase based on a strong state, peace, stability, and economic recovery.”
In Beirut, Prime Minister Dr. Nawaf Salam held his weekly cabinet meeting. Media Minister Paul Mergass stated that they discussed ways to enhance electricity supply during the summer, as well as Salam’s visit to Turkey, where he emphasized the independence of Lebanese decision-making in negotiations and the necessity of accelerating the Israeli withdrawal. He also raised with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the issue of a tripartite electricity link between Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon.
Meanwhile, MP Fouad Machnouk chaired a delegation from the “Beirut Dialogue Forum,” which includes prominent figures from the city, during a visit to Lebanese Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian at the Dar al-Fatwa. Machnouk there affirmed full support for the President of the Republic “in the process of restoring state sovereignty and monopolizing weapons in its hands,” and welcomed the beginning of the implementation of the Rome meeting’s resolutions and the launch of the first pilot area, considering it “the first practical step toward extending state authority over all Lebanese territories, thereby enhancing the confidence of the Arab and international communities in Lebanon and opening the door to a new phase of stability, reconstruction, and economic recovery.” He stressed the importance of supporting Prime Minister Dr. Nawaf Salam’s government in completing the implementation of this national strategy, enacting reforms, and restoring the trust of Lebanese citizens, Arab brothers, and the international community.
He added: “We assured His Eminence that any general amnesty law that is not based on justice, equality, and the rule of law, and does not include all those who meet the same conditions, is not a general amnesty, but rather a selective law that entrenches discrimination among Lebanese. We clarified that I withdrew from the legislative session prior to the vote on the general amnesty law, after it became evident that the proposed draft was arbitrary and did not include the amendments agreed upon with Prime Minister Dr. Nawaf Salam, thereby depriving certain categories of Lebanese of justice that should encompass everyone.”
