Trump authorizes resumption of direct US-Lebanon flights after 41-year halt

Aoun’s first White House visit since 2009

President Donald Trump directed his administration Tuesday to allow U.S. airline carriers to resume direct flights to Lebanon, reversing a suspension that had been in place since 1985 when the Reagan administration halted the route following the hijacking of TWA Flight 847.

Trump announced the move in a social media post after meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House. “I am hereby directing my Administration to allow all U.S. airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily visit this beautiful land,” Trump wrote in the post.

Trump also made a broader pledge of support for Lebanon during the White House meeting. “It’s been a very badly treated place and country and we’re going to have it properly treated and treated with the respect it deserves,” Trump told Aoun, according to the White House. “We’re gonna help it a lot,” he said, without offering specific commitments.

Aoun’s four-day visit to Washington comes as Lebanon pushes for a lasting settlement following months of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Lebanon hopes the talks result in Israeli troops withdrawing from large parts of southern Lebanon they currently occupy, and for the Lebanese military to receive backing to assert full control in areas where Hezbollah has held sway.

Trump said Tuesday of Israel’s army fully withdrawing from Lebanon: “They’re in the process of doing that. They’re in the process of redeploying.” He did not elaborate.

The U.S. has pushed for peace in Lebanon but has been distracted by a new round of escalation in Iran, which has destabilized much of the Middle East. Trump recently said he had little interest in talks with Iran’s leader to end the war — at least for now.

Aoun told Trump during the meeting: “Your vision is peace.” He called it Trump’s “legacy.”

Lebanon and Israel have held rare direct talks mediated by Washington since April, after decades without formal diplomatic contact. Those negotiations initially produced a 10-day ceasefire and later a renewal agreement, though violations have continued on both sides.