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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US President Donald Trump stated on Tuesday that he suggested to the Israelis that Syria would be a better fit to handle the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon than Tel Aviv, in a press release at the annual G7 meeting in France.
“I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah, because, to be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job of doing it,” Trump stated.
He added that the Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa “has pulled that country together amazingly quickly. He's very capable, and he's been very good for me.”
Trump’s statement comes amid Israel’s attack on Sunday in Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahieh, amid a looming preliminary agreement between Iran and the United States after more than two months of fluctuating tensions and stalled negotiations.
Trump said that the Syrian President “protected everything that I've asked for,” adding that “if Israel can't do the job without killing everyone else, he'll do the job. Syria will do the job.”
Sharaa stated earlier on Sunday that “there are rumors about a Syrian intervention in Lebanon and these rumors are inaccurate,” adding that Syria wants an end to wars.
Iran has stressed that halting Israeli military operations in Lebanon is part of its shaky ceasefire agreement with the US. In early June, it launched a wave of missiles against Israel after the latter struck Beirut’s Dahieh, raising the death toll in Lebanon to more than 11,000 since early March.
The attack triggered a two-day exchange of strikes before Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, dissuading him from further escalations.
Referring to the strike as a "warning," the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that if Israel continues its attacks on Lebanon, Tehran's response would be broader to "encompass all American and Zionist targets in the region."
The US brokered a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon in early June. The truce, contingent upon Hezbollah laying down arms, was categorically rejected by the militant group.
Israel has also continued its ground offensive in southern Lebanon, raising its flag earlier in June over the medieval Beaufort Castle, which served as an Israeli base during its two-decade occupation of Lebanese territory in the 1980s and 1990s.
Israel views Hezbollah - an Iran-backed group that has been fighting Israel since the mid-1980s - as an existential threat to its security, justifying its continued attacks on Lebanon and the presence of its troops in the country as preemptive measures.
