Trump says US airlines can now fly to Lebanon for first time since 1985

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, after meeting with Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun, that he was directing the US government to allow all domestic airline carriers to fly directly to that country.

All US flights were suspended in 1985 after the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 from Athens, Greece, en route to Rome, Italy. The flight was forced to land in Beirut. During the 17-day ordeal, a US Navy diver was killed.

Before flights to Lebanon could resume, US officials will need to conduct an extensive security review of the Beirut airport and certify its safety.

The FAA said it "looks forward to working with airlines and our interagency partners to implement the President’s directive and support the safe return of flights to Lebanon".

The US State Department currently has a "Do Not Travel" advisory for Lebanon for Americans, citing high tensions in the Middle East. In February, the government ordered non-emergency US government employees and family members to leave Lebanon, due to safety risks.

Trump ordered the US Transportation Department to lift a ban on US passenger air service to Venezuela in January after the US captured the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, in a military operation that month. Service resumed in late April after seven years, with an ​American Airlines flight from Miami to Caracas.

In their first meeting, the two leaders discussed plans to disarm the Hezbollah and secure Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon. The Lebanese presidency said they also discussed US support for Lebanon's army, reconstruction, economic recovery and American investment.

Aoun's nearly two-hour visit took place as Israeli troops continue to occupy a swath of the country's south and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese remain displaced following Israeli strikes. Hezbollah has rejected the government's direct talks with Israel as well as efforts by the state to disarm it.

"It's been a very badly treated place and country, and we're going to have it properly treated and treated with respect that it deserves," Trump said as he met Aoun in the White House's Oval Office. "There's a Hezbollah problem."

Aoun, who served as the commander of Lebanon's US-backed army before being elected president last year, was the first Lebanese head of state to visit the White House in nearly 20 years.

In a statement after the talks, the Lebanese presidency said Aoun stressed to Trump the "urgent need for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory," calling it "an essential step to consolidate stability and enable the Lebanese state to extend its full sovereignty exclusively through its own forces".

A US-BROKERED AGREEMENT

In a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday, Aoun said Israel should begin withdrawing from southern Lebanon in line with a US-brokered June 26 agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

That deal aims to disarm Hezbollah, see a progressive Israeli troop withdrawal and set the stage for peaceful ties between the two countries.

But it remains unclear how Aoun can persuade or force Hezbollah to give up its weapons.