Lebanese President Joseph Aoun departed Beirut for Washington on Saturday at the invitation of US President Donald Trump, carrying a request that the American administration address Israeli military withdrawals from Lebanon and Syria as a single, interconnected file. According to sources within the Lebanese presidency cited by the daily Al-Liwaa, Aoun has argued that the stability of the two neighbours is inseparable and that any diplomatic framework that does not end what Beirut terms occupation on both fronts cannot produce durable calm. The White House summit, confirmed by the Lebanese presidency, is scheduled to include meetings with senior US officials and will focus on consolidating the ceasefire, restoring state authority across southern Lebanon, and securing an Israeli pullback from areas it holds.

The linkage to Syria marks a notable expansion of the agenda. Aoun’s office conveyed that the president told Trump the continued presence of Israeli forces on Lebanese and Syrian territory is the direct cause of persistent tension, and that talk of security loses meaning while those forces remain. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, with whom Aoun consulted before travelling, reinforced the message, insisting that full Israeli withdrawal must be presented as the prerequisite for any subsequent political or security track. Viewed from Beirut, the demand reflects a conviction that a narrow Lebanon-only deal would leave the border region vulnerable to renewed escalation, given the strategic depth Israel maintains in the occupied Golan Heights and adjacent Syrian areas.

The visit follows a US-mediated framework agreement signed last month between Lebanon and Israel, which Washington has described as a step toward ending hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Talks in Rome earlier this week, facilitated by American diplomats, were characterised by US officials as productive and yielded a preliminary understanding on establishing two pilot zones in southern Lebanon—one inside an area currently held by Israel and another adjacent to Israeli positions. Lebanese sources told Al Jazeera that military committees from both sides are expected to convene, again with American mediation, to negotiate the operational details of a withdrawal and the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces. No date or venue has been finalised for that meeting.

Critics of the framework agreement, including some Lebanese political figures, have pointed to the absence of a binding legal status and a clear timetable for an Israeli exit. Aoun has publicly described the text as “the best possible” and noted that the Lebanese file is now on Trump’s table, while insisting that Lebanon will not compromise on its rights. The immediate next step is the bilateral summit in Washington, after which the US side is expected to set the parameters for the military-level technical talks. The outcome is likely to test whether the American administration is prepared to treat the Israeli presence in Syria as part of the same diplomatic package, or whether it will seek to sequence the two tracks separately.