American and Israeli officials stated that U.S. President Donald Trump urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to begin withdrawing Israeli troops from Syria and emphasized the need for a similar step in Lebanon.
According to an American official who spoke to the website “Axios,” Trump explained to Netanyahu during a phone call on Thursday that Israel’s military presence in Syria was increasing tensions that could lead to escalation in the region. The official quoted Trump as saying, “You need to start relocating troops,” adding that the same assessment applied to Israel’s presence in Lebanon.
For his part, Netanyahu’s office stated in a statement that the prime minister raised the issue of the need to create security zones along Israel’s borders.
Negotiations on Syria and Lebanon
The conversation between Trump and Netanyahu took place a day after the American president met with his Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey. The Trump administration has been seeking to reach a new security agreement between Israel and Syria for several months but ultimately concluded that Netanyahu was not willing to make the concessions it demanded, according to “Axios.”
According to American officials, these concessions include the gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army from Syrian territories it occupied after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024. In recent weeks, there have been several incidents in southern Syria where local residents protested against the presence of Israeli military and clashed with them.
Regarding Lebanon, American mediators met in Rome on Tuesday with Israeli and Lebanese diplomats to discuss the implementation of a framework agreement signed a few weeks ago. According to the agreements, Israel committed to withdrawing its troops from two areas in southern Lebanon that it still controls and allowing the Lebanese army to deploy in these territories. The Israeli army has not yet begun relocating from these areas. The Lebanese government is demanding the start of the troop withdrawal process and a clear schedule for further stages.
Source: Sky News Arabia
