Aoun, who served as the commander of Lebanon’s US-backed army before ‌being elected president last year, is the first Lebanese head of state in nearly 20 years to visit the White House, where he will meet Trump face-to-face for the first time.

Tuesday’s meeting comes at a crucial moment for Lebanon: Israeli troops are occupying a swathe of the country’s south, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese remain displaced following Israeli strikes, and Hezbollah has firmly rejected the government’s direct talks with Israel — and efforts by the state to strip it ​of its arms.

In comments published by his office last week, Aoun said he would ask Trump to “exert the necessary pressure on Israel” to implement a US-brokered June 26 agreement between ​Lebanon and Israel.

That deal aims to disarm Hezbollah, see a progressive Israeli troop withdrawal and set the stage for peaceful ties between the two ⁠countries.

A Lebanese official said Aoun would present Trump with a written proposal on how to decommission Hezbollah’s arsenal.

The official said Aoun believes only Trump possesses the leverage needed to ​pressure Israel to withdraw its troops and help Lebanon restore its sovereignty.

Hezbollah’s disarmament

Aoun, 62, became president last year just before Trump began his second term in the White House.

The US welcomed ​Aoun’s election.

Aoun is a Maronite Christian. A career soldier, Aoun was wounded twice and still carries a shrapnel wound.

His rise reflected a major shift in the power balance in Lebanon, following a devastating Israeli offensive in 2024 and the ousting of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad — seismic ​events that weakened Hezbollah and its long-decisive hold over the state.

At his swearing-in ceremony, Aoun vowed to affirm “the state’s right to a monopoly on arms”.

His presidency’s first year was defined by a ​government bid to secure the disarmament of Hezbollah.

Lebanese troops deployed in southern Lebanon to collect Hezbollah weapons caches, in line with ‌a ceasefire ⁠after the 2024 war and without opposition from a weakened Hezbollah.

New war erupts

But early into his term’s second year, a new war erupted when Hezbollah fired at Israel on March 2 in support of Iran, which was under US and Israeli attack.

The attack triggered a fierce Israeli air and ground campaign that has killed more than 4,300 people, including nearly 800 children, women and medics.

After the war began, Aoun swiftly called for direct talks with Israel, a ​historic departure for a state repeatedly invaded by ​Israel since 1978.

It led to the ⁠highest-level face-to-face contacts in decades between the two countries.

It also made him the focus of fierce criticism by Hezbollah and its supporters.

Aoun has stood firm, criticising Hezbollah for starting the war and saying Lebanon was being destroyed for the sake of Iran.

Still, he has stopped short of agreeing to Trump’s ​call for him to meet radical Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

A military veteran

Aoun was born in Sin Al Fil, a suburb of eastern Beirut. His ​family originally hails from south ⁠Lebanon.

His first army assignment was as a platoon commander in the army rangers in 1985, during Lebanon’s 1975 to 1990 civil war.

Shortly after his promotion to commander, he oversaw a campaign to rout Daesh militants at the Syrian-Lebanese border.

He led the army through the crisis that followed Lebanon’s financial implosion of 2019, which devastated the Lebanese currency after decades of state corruption and bad governance.

At the time, Aoun ⁠warned that the ​crisis would lead to the collapse of the Lebanese army, “the backbone of the country”.

In an unusually political statement for ​an army commander, he criticised ruling politicians over the collapse, saying soldiers were going hungry along with the rest of the population and asking politicians, “what do you intend to do?”

Aoun’s election ended a two-year presidential vacuum following the 2022 end of ​the term of Hezbollah ally Michel Aoun, who is no relation.

He has pledged to work on long-delayed economic reforms and vowed justice for victims of the Beirut port explosion of 2020.