Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Tuesday called on the United States to pressure Israel to complete its withdrawal from Southern Lebanon and to facilitate the release of Lebanese prisoners.
Speaking in Beirut during a meeting with a U.S. military delegation led by Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, Aoun emphasized the Lebanese Armed Forces’ role in maintaining border stability and curbing unauthorized armed groups. The delegation co-chairs the monitoring mechanism established under the November 2024 ceasefire agreement.
The truce, which ended more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, calls for Hezbollah’s withdrawal north of the Litani River and anticipates Israel’s pullout from five remaining military positions in Southern Lebanon.
Aoun urged Washington and Paris to act as guarantors of the agreement, warning that continued Israeli presence undermines Lebanese sovereignty and regional calm.
Earlier this week, Israel carried out an airstrike on what it said was a missile storage site in Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold. No casualties were reported due to pre-strike evacuation warnings. It was the third such strike since the ceasefire took effect.
Hezbollah has not responded militarily in recent months, following a series of setbacks including the assassination of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in an Israeli strike last September.
