Trump presses Netanyahu to redeploy forces from Syria, Lebanon

Shafaq News- Washington

US President Donald Trump urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to begin redeploying Israeli forces out of Syria and Lebanon during a phone call last week, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing US and Israeli officials.

Trump warned that the Israeli military’s presence in Syria was fueling tensions and risked further escalation. “They don’t want you there. You should redeploy,” he told Netanyahu, while delivering the same message regarding Lebanon. Netanyahu, in turn, stressed the need to maintain security zones along Israel’s borders, according to his office.

The conversation came a day after Trump met Syrian transitional President Ahmad Al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkiye. Washington had spent months seeking a new security arrangement between Israel and Syria, including a gradual Israeli withdrawal from territory occupied since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024, but reportedly concluded that Netanyahu was unwilling to make the concessions it sought.

Meanwhile, US mediators met Israeli and Lebanese officials in Rome on Tuesday to discuss implementing a framework agreement under which Israel committed to withdraw from two “pilot zones” in southern Lebanon and allow the Lebanese army to deploy there. Israeli forces have yet to leave the areas, while Lebanon has demanded a clear timetable for further withdrawals.

Israel maintains that additional redeployments should depend on verifying that the zones are free of Hezbollah weapons and military infrastructure, while Lebanon argues that the US military should make that assessment.