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US President Donald Trump said Benjamin Netanyahu must be “responsible about Lebanon” and let Syria “handle Hezbollah” in comments to reporters at the G7 summit.
His remarks came during a bilateral meeting with Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, a mediator in US-Iran talks aimed at reaching a framework deal to end the war.
Trump said Hezbollah remains a problem for the region, but suggested that Israel’s response had gone too far and could jeopardise stability in the Middle East.
On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck a building in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, injuring more than a dozen people and killing three. Israel said the operation targeted a command centre belonging to Hezbollah.
The attack came as the US prepared to announce a framework deal to end the war with Tehran. Trump acknowledged that Hezbollah is a problem, but questioned Netanyahu’s methods.
“Israel has been fighting Hezbollah for too long, and too many people are being killed,” he told reporters in Évian, France, where the G7 summit is underway.
“You don’t have to knock down an entire apartment building every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people who live in those apartments and they are not all Hezbollah.”
Trump suggested that Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa is “very capable” of dealing with Hezbollah, calling him “very good for me”. He added that if Israel cannot carry out the operations “without killing everyone else, “he (al-Sharaa) will do the job”.
Asked if he was frustrated by Netanyahu’s actions, Trump said no.
“We have a great relationship. I didn’t like that he carried out an attack based on minor drones (on Lebanon)… it was vicious. That was too much,” he added.
“Now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.”
Trump said that, of all the countries affected by the conflict, “they have been treated the worst, and they can’t defend themselves.”
Earlier this week, Axios reported that Trump berated Netanyahu after the strike on Beirut, arguing that he (Netanyahu) had “no fu*ing judgement”.
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