‘I Would Speak With Hezbollah,’ President Trump Says, Restores Direct Flights to Lebanon
By The Media Line Staff
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would be willing to engage directly with Hezbollah if Lebanese President Joseph Aoun requested it, as the two leaders discussed security cooperation and efforts to reduce the Iran-backed terrorist group’s influence in Lebanon during talks at the White House.
Asked whether he would meet with Hezbollah’s leadership, Trump said he would not rule out such discussions.
“I would speak to Hezbollah. I speak to everybody. I’ll speak to people that a lot of people think I shouldn’t be speaking to, and things work out,” President Trump said during remarks in the Oval Office.
“If the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, I would,” he added.
The meeting marked the first visit to the White House by a Lebanese head of state in nearly 20 years.
Among the topics discussed were proposals to disarm Hezbollah and establish “pilot zones” where the terrorist group would have no presence. Those areas would be patrolled by the Lebanese Armed Forces.
President Trump declined to say whether the United States would directly assist efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
“We have some very concrete plans already in store for that. Others [may be] going in and helping, but [Lebanon is] also becoming much more self-sufficient,” he said.
Following the meeting, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he had instructed his administration to permit the restoration of direct commercial air service between the United States and Lebanon, ending a suspension that has remained in effect for more than 40 years.
In the post, President Trump said Aoun “has done a remarkable job working to transform his country” and expressed hope that other nations would follow Washington’s lead in restoring direct air service to “this beautiful land.”
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