Trump tells Netanyahu to remove Israeli troops from Lebanon, Syria - report

U.S. President Donald Trump asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remove Israeli troops from Lebanon and Syria in a recent phone call, Axios reports. 

“They don't want you there. You should redeploy,” Trump reportedly told Netanyahu in a phone conversation last Thursday, according to a U.S. official who spoke with Axios. 

According to Israel Hayom, Trump conveyed the Syrian demand for the withdrawal of IDF troops from its territory, but did not present it as an American demand. 

The phone call between the two leaders came a day after Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey. 

In the phone call, Trump also asked Netanyahu to renew negotiations with Syria on the security situation at the border, with the withdrawal of the IDF forces as a goal to be reached in the negotiations, Israel Hayom reported. 

President Trump has been supportive of interim President al-Sharaa and is eager to see relations between the two neighbors improve. Trump has been pushing Israel for several months to resume security talks aimed at reaching an agreement. 

A statement released by Netanyahu’s office said that “The Prime Minister, on his part, raised the need for security zones along Israel's borders.” 

Israeli security officials are suspicious of the motives of the al-Sharaa government, given the outbreak of several waves of violence against the Druze, the Alawites, and the Kurds. Additionally, Israeli officials do not believe al-Sharaa has sufficient control over the militias affiliated with his own government, especially as some of those militias continue to receive funding and backing from Turkey. 

Additionally, since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, and the installation of the al-Sharaa government, Turkish forces have been establishing a significant presence in the country, initially as military advisors, but also through the establishment of permanent military bases. 

IDF sources told The Jerusalem Post that they were unaware of any discussion of Israeli withdrawal from Syria, and that there has been no change in troop deployment in the Syrian security zones. 

The issue of the security zones in Lebanon was also raised in the phone call between Trump and Netanyahu. However, in contrast to Syria, Israel and the Lebanese government are in frequent dialogue over the situation in southern Lebanon, where the IDF maintains a large security zone to prevent the Iranian-backed Shia terror group Hezbollah from attacking Israeli territory. 

Representatives from the two countries met on Tuesday in Rome to discuss the implementation of the framework agreement signed on June 26. 

As part of that agreement, the IDF is set to withdraw from two “pilot zones,” allowing the Lebanese military to enter the territory and implement measures to prevent the return of Hezbollah to those areas. 

The IDF reportedly wants to ensure the removal of all Hezbollah infrastructure from the two pilot zones before withdrawing. 

Meanwhile, despite reports in Hebrew media of an upcoming visit by Netanyahu to Washington, no announcement has been made by the Prime Minister’s Office of such a visit.