Trump Presses Netanyahu to Redeploy Israeli Forces from Syria and Lebanon

President Donald Trump told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pull back Israeli troops from southern Syria and southern Lebanon, according to US and Israeli officials speaking to Axios and reported by The Independent. The call followed a meeting Trump held with Syrian figure Ahmad al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara. A US official quoted by Axios said Trump told Netanyahu, “They don't want you there. You should redeploy.” Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister raised the need for security zones along Israel’s borders. Separately, Israeli and Lebanese diplomats met in Rome to discuss implementing a recent framework agreement under which Israel agreed to withdraw from two pilot zones.

In interviews and comments cited in the report, Trump described a policy of “redeploying” rather than a full withdrawal and suggested Lebanon and Syria could help reduce tensions with Hezbollah. He also reportedly told advisers he might give Syrian leaders more latitude to act against Hezbollah, saying they could be more “precise.” The exchanges follow earlier reports of heated phone calls between Trump and Netanyahu and come amid international criticism of Israeli deployments and a stalemate in broader US-Iran negotiations, as reported by The Independent

This story has also been reported by: Jerusalem Post