Lebanon’s president used America’s 250th birthday to ask for something in return. In a congratulatory message to Donald Trump on Saturday, Joseph Aoun urged Washington to “keep always standing beside Lebanon’s right and just causes, its institutions, army and people.” He said he hoped Lebanon could “turn the page on wars… and open a new page of hope, peace and stability.”
The appeal follows a framework deal with Israel reached in Washington, backed by the United States, that aims to end hostilities permanently after the latest Israel-Hezbollah war. Its terms: Hezbollah disarms, Israel withdraws gradually from southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese army deploys there, beginning with two “pilot” areas. The deal sets no timetable for the Israeli withdrawal. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, has rejected it.
The US embassy in Lebanon marked the anniversary in a post on X. “It is with great pride that we stand with the people of Lebanon as they forge a brighter future,” it said, “one of peace, prosperity, and promise long overdue.”
How the war started
Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by firing rockets at Israel, to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes days earlier. Israel answered with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion of the south. Its troops still hold swathes of territory near the border.
Last month Tehran and Washington signed an agreement to end the regional war, which also set up a ceasefire in Lebanon. It took effect on June 21. Days later Lebanon and Israel agreed to the framework.
Returning home
The UN International Organization for Migration said this week that more than 640,000 displaced people have gone home since June 22. Lebanese authorities say the war killed some 4,300 people and displaced more than one million.
Many cannot return. Towns and villages near the southern border are still occupied by Israeli troops, and many were heavily destroyed. Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed toured the south on Saturday, including the badly damaged city of Nabatieh. She said authorities were drawing up a plan with “prefabricated houses and rent assistance payments” to help people get back to their homes or nearby areas.
The ceasefire has not stopped Israeli fire. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that a strike on the village of Mansouri on Saturday wounded one person, and said Israeli artillery shelled other areas.
