President Donald Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has to be “more responsible with respect to Lebanon” amid concerns the renewed fighting with Hezbollah could derail the U.S.-Iran peace agreement. “I'm not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah. They should have been able to do the job faster,” Trump told reporters Tuesday, at the G7 summit in France. “It just goes on forever,” he continued, seemingly referencing the exchanging of strikes between Israeli forces and the Hezbollah militant group. “When that happens, it throws a negative light on the big deal, the deal with Iran.”
Trump said he has an “unbelievable relationship” with Netanyahu, but claimed “Israel would have been blown up a long time ago, had I not gotten involved.” Since the Israel-Hezbollah fighting reignited in March, early on in the Iran war, at least 3,783 have been killed in Lebanon, with 11,699 wounded, according to the country’s Health Ministry.
But Trump, as he spoke alongside Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the summit, said he considers the war to be “minor.” "I consider that the minor war. Iran’s the big one, but we have that little pinprick out there that constantly rears its head and that’s Hezbollah,” he said. Trump then argued that Syria, under its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, would be better suited to deal with Hezbollah. “I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah, because to be honest with you, I think they would do a better job,” he argued.