Report: Trump tells Netanyahu to move forces out of Syria and Lebanon
U.S. President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call last Thursday that Israel should start redeploying its forces out of Syria and urged him to do the same in Lebanon, U.S. and Israeli officials told U.S. news portal Axios.
A U.S. official said Trump told Netanyahu that the presence of the Israeli military in Syrian territory creates tensions and could lead to an escalation.
"They don't want you there. You should redeploy," Trump told Netanyahu, according to the U.S. official, who added that the same is true about Lebanon.
"The Prime Minister, for his part, raised the need for security zones along Israel's borders," the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
The call between Trump and Netanyahu took place a day after a meeting the U.S. president had with his Syrian counterpart, Ahmed al-Sharaa, on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey.
The Trump administration has spent months trying to reach a new security agreement between Israel and Syria before eventually concluding that Netanyahu doesn't want to make the concessions it sought. Those included gradually withdrawing the Israeli army from the Syrian territory it has occupied since the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024, U.S. officials say.
In recent weeks, there have been several incidents in southern Syria where Syrian citizens protested against the Israeli army presence and clashed with Israeli soldiers.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, U.S. mediators met in Rome with Israeli and Lebanese diplomats to discuss the implementation of the framework agreement that was signed by the countries several weeks ago.
As part of this agreement, Israel committed to pull its forces out of two "pilot zones" it is currently occupying in southern Lebanon and allow the Lebanese military to deploy there.
The Israeli army still has not redeployed from the two areas. The Lebanese government wants the process to start and has demanded a clear timetable for further withdrawals.
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