Last week it was reported that the US was asking Israel to stop attacking Lebanon, and that their plan for the region included creating a “Trump economic zone” in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, however, says he hasn’t even been informed about this plan in the first place. Aoun also pushed for the extension of the UNIFIL peacekeeper mandate in the area, though Israel has asked the US to use their veto to end that mandate.
What exactly this “Trump economic zone” would look like isn’t clear. Initial reports suggested it was just something “the US envisions” though Israeli media outlets claimed Israel came up with the idea, and that it meant full, permanent depopulation of the entire Lebanese side of the border.
Instead of the ruined and formerly IDF-occupied villages along the border right now, southern Lebanon would be emptied out except for non-specific state-owned and state-operated industrial areas. The media described this area as “civilian-free” so it’s not clear who is expected to work in that imagined industrial zone.
Israel invaded Lebanon in the later months of 2024, and a ceasefire was signed in November. Though it was meant to see the IDF withdraw from southern Lebanon, they remained in parts of the area, and spent months burning homes in the south. Since then, they have been launching near daily attacks in the south.
After demanding yet more concessions from Lebanon, including the full disarmament of all factions within the country, the US has suggested that Israel should stop attacking Lebanon now.
Reportedly Israel has rejected that proposal in general, but may be open to reducing the rate of attacks on Lebanon if the south is branded as a Trump zone and cleared of all civilian life.
Lebanon, at present, does not have substantial state-owned industry, and it’s not clear how chasing survivors out of the ruined villages will make creating such industry in the formerly agricultural south viable. It is, however, in keeping with previous Israeli promises to never allow Lebanon to rebuild the border villages they destroyed.
