Aoun forms Lebanese-Palestinian committees to address the presence of weapons in refugee camps.

This came in a statement by Aoun during his meeting with a US delegation headed by Senator Angus King in Beirut. The delegation is on an indefinite visit, according to a post by the Lebanese presidency on the X platform.

Aoun said, "We have formed Lebanese-Palestinian committees, and work will begin in the middle of next month (June) in three Palestinian camps (which he did not specify), to address the issue of the presence of Palestinian weapons there," without providing further details.

On Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Lebanese counterpart agreed to form a joint committee to monitor the situation in Palestinian camps in Lebanon. Both leaders affirmed their commitment to the principle of the exclusive possession of arms by the Lebanese state.

On Thursday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Abbas affirmed, in a joint statement, the need to close the arms file in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and restrict them to the state.

The head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, Ramez Dimashqieh, also announced on Friday an agreement to launch a process to hand over weapons from Palestinian camps according to a timetable.

The number of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is estimated at more than 493,000 people, living in difficult conditions in camps managed by Palestinian factions under unofficial understandings dating back to the 1969 Cairo Agreement.

Palestinian factions believe the presence of weapons in the camps is necessary because it is linked to the right of return and the struggle to liberate Palestine from occupation. The Lebanese army and security forces do not enter the camps, but the army imposes strict measures around them.

On November 3, 1969, Palestinian-Lebanese negotiations in Egypt led to the "Cairo Agreement," under which control of the refugee camps was transferred from the Lebanese Armed Forces to the Palestine Liberation Organization. On May 21, 1987, the Lebanese Parliament announced the cancellation of the agreement.

On another note, the Lebanese president considered that "initiating the lifting of US sanctions on Syria is a good option, because improving the Syrian economy will help resolve the crisis of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, who must return to contribute to revitalizing their country's economy."

Aoun said, "The United Nations should provide aid to the displaced in their countries, not in Lebanon," according to a presidential statement.

On Friday, the US Treasury Department issued a general license providing "immediate relief" from sanctions imposed on Syria, in line with President Donald Trump's decision to lift sanctions imposed in 1979 and made more comprehensive with the outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011.

The Treasury Department noted that its Office of Foreign Assets Control issued Syrian General License No. 25 on Friday, providing immediate relief from sanctions imposed on Syria.

The ministry explained that the license "allows transactions prohibited under Syrian sanctions regulations, which in practice means lifting sanctions on Syria."

The Syrian authorities are looking for international and regional support to help them address the repercussions of ousted President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule (2000-2024).