WASHINGTON, United States, July 19, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - US Secretary of State 
Marco Rubio met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Washington on Sunday, 
a State Department official told AFP, after the latest round of Lebanon-
Israel talks wrapped up in Italy.

It is the first trip to Washington by a Lebanese head of state since Michel 
Sleiman was received by Barack Obama in 2009.

The Lebanese president's office said Aoun would meet with President Donald 
Trump on Tuesday.

Aoun planned talks "on the situation in Lebanon and ways to strengthen the 
ceasefire" as well as on "the withdrawal of Israel from the Lebanese regions 
it occupies," his office said.

Israel and Lebanon -- which do not have formal diplomatic relations -- began 
US-sponsored negotiations in April aimed at reaching a peace deal and 
permanently ending the Israel-Hezbollah war.

On June 26, they reached a framework agreement in Washington under which the 
Israeli military is to withdraw from southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army 
is to deploy, starting with two "pilot zones."

The agreement is contingent on the disarmament of Iran-backed militant group 
Hezbollah, which has flatly rejected both the deal and the Israel-Lebanon 
negotiations that underpin it.

Following the latest round of talks last week in Rome, Israel and Lebanon 
"agreed on the structure and guidelines" for implementing the pilot zones, a 
US official said.

Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2, when it began 
striking Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion, and despite a 
ceasefire it continues sporadic attacks and holds territory in the south in 
what it describes as a "security zone."

The United States carried out airstrikes on Sunday to "punish" Iran after the 
first US military deaths since open hostilities rekindled the Middle East 
war.