Residents of Zawtar Gharbieh enter the locality designated as the “pilot zone,” accompanied by the Lebanese Army, on July 24, 2026. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the private channel MTV’s correspondent at the White House that the United States plans to "strengthen its support" for the Lebanese Army "in the coming days."
This announcement follows President Joseph Aoun’s visit to the United States earlier this week, during which he held a historic closed-door meeting with his American counterpart, Donald Trump, on Tuesday — the first of its kind for a Lebanese head of state in 17 years.
The United States plans to reinforce its support to the Lebanese Army on financial, military, and logistical levels, as well as in terms of training. This support is expected to be gradually implemented, notably through training programs conducted by the U.S. military in several countries in the region, including Jordan and Turkey. The organization of an international conference dedicated to supporting the army is also being considered.
The framework agreement concluded on June 26 between Lebanon and Israel, following the first direct negotiations between the two countries in decades, provides for a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces, conditioned on the deployment of the Lebanese Army and the dismantling of Hezbollah’s infrastructure in so-called "pilot zones."
The agreement began to be implemented on Monday, with the deployment of army units in two such zones in the central southern sector — the villages of Srifa and Froun, where occupying forces were not present — as well as in Zawtar Gharbieh.
Asked by MTV about Hezbollah’s weapons, Hegseth acknowledged "the complexities of the situation in Lebanon," adding that he had received assurances that "everything would proceed very positively very soon."
