Trump Welcomes Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House

JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House on Tuesday, as Israel begins to withdraw some of its troops from southern Lebanon under a US-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Aoun will be the first Lebanese president to visit the White House since 2009. His visit comes after the US brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, which ultimately aims to end the fighting in southern Lebanon and gradually hand over control of the territory from Israel to the Lebanese military.

Israel has been engaged in a conflict with Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy group, since early March.

The first phase of the agreement requires Israel to withdraw from several "pilot zones" near the so-called "Yellow Line", which marks the border of the territory occupied by the Israeli military. On Monday, July 20, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they had handed over authority over three villages in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese military.

Lebanon's army said on Tuesday it had begun deploying troops to Zawtar al-Gharbiya, a town in the country's south, after Israeli forces withdrew.

Trump has been pushing for a crucial meeting between Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, Aoun refused to take part in such a meeting until there was a wider Israeli troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

On Monday, an Israeli military official said the IDF would continue to operate to remove the threat in southern Lebanon.