Hezbollah criticises Lebanese president's Washington visit

The Iran-backed Hezbollah group criticised Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's recent visit to Washington on Thursday, calling it a failure and saying it showed submission to a foreign power.

In a statement, Hezbollah lawmakers said the visit showed what they described as subservience to foreign tutelage. They said it had failed to secure an American commitment for Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory. They also said the visit did not stop killings, bombing and bulldozing that they attributed to Israel, and did not make possible the safe return of displaced people or the start of reconstruction.

US President Donald Trump received Aoun in Washington on Tuesday. Aoun said he had stressed the urgent need for a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. Asked whether Washington would put more pressure on Israel to withdraw, Trump said the United States would be looking at it.

The source says Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by attacking Israel in support of Tehran on March 2, triggering major Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion.

In their statement, Hezbollah lawmakers again rejected direct talks between Beirut and Israel, which began in April, and a US-sponsored framework agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel last month. They also called for a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

Lebanon's army began deploying to Zawtar al-Gharbiya on Tuesday as part of the agreement. Under the deal, the army is to disarm Hezbollah and the Israeli military is to withdraw from pilot zones where Lebanese troops will then deploy.

Army chief Rodolphe Haykal visited Zawtar al-Gharbiya on Thursday and reviewed measures intended to ensure residents could return safely. His visit came a day after Prime Minister Nawaf Salam planted a Lebanese flag in the town.

The source says violence has declined since the signing last month of a US-Iran memorandum and the Lebanon-Israel framework deal, but that Israel still carries out intermittent strikes in the south. On Thursday, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli forces carried out a large detonation in Al-Tiri, near the border, and that a Syrian worker was wounded by Israeli gunfire elsewhere in the south.