Aoun Vows to Continue Israel Talks Ahead of July 21 Trump Summit

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun assured a Lebanese Forces delegation led by Samir Geagea on Friday that he will not back down from the decision to negotiate with Israel, ahead of his July 21 White House summit with President Trump. Aoun cast the Washington trip as an effort to halt Israeli operations in southern Lebanon and restore Lebanese sovereignty under the framework agreement signed on June 26. Geagea told the president Lebanon cannot remain in limbo and urged him to continue with the framework track, saying negotiations were Lebanon's only realistic option. The summit lands as Israel weighs whether to hand over the first Rome-track pilot zones for withdrawal, giving Jerusalem the leverage to insist on measurable Hezbollah disarmament before any pullback.