US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Syria should replace Israel in the fight against Lebanon’s Hezbollah, arguing that the Jewish state’s war on the Iran-backed terror group has been too prolonged and indiscriminate, and adding that Israel would have been “blown off the face of the earth” if not for him.
He also threatened unspecified “ultimate consequences” if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon in defiance of the US-Iran agreement to end the war, which was signed digitally on Sunday.
Speaking at the G7 summit of global leaders in France, Trump criticized Israel’s conduct in its fight against Hezbollah. He said that the conflict has gone on for too long, suggesting that Israel has been killing too many noncombatants.
“Israel is fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed,” Trump said. “And you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody. Because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses. And they’re not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.”
Trump said later: “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. It just goes on forever. And when that happens, it throws a negative light on the big deal, and that’s the deal with Iran.”
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He reiterated that he was upset about Israel’s strike on Hezbollah in Beirut on Sunday, shortly before the interim peace deal between Iran and the US was announced.
“I didn’t like where, two hours before we’re signing the agreement, that there was an attack in Lebanon, in Beirut,” he said.
Israel launched the strike after Hezbollah fired several rockets into Israel.
He referred to Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Islamist rebel leader and now the president of Syria, saying that he would more effectively lead the fight against Hezbollah.
“I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah,” Trump said. “Because to be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job of doing it.”
He said of Sharaa: “He’s very capable. And he’s been very good for me. He’s protected everything that I’ve asked for… And if Israel can’t do the job without killing everyone else, he’ll do the job. Syria will do the job.”
Hezbollah had assisted former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in keeping control during the more-than decade-long Syrian civil war. Sharaa was only eventually able to rout Assad’s forces after Israel severely weakened Hezbollah and killed much of its leadership in late 2024.
US President Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House in Washington, DC, on November 10, 2025. (Handout of the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) / AFP)
Israeli troops are currently stationed deep within southern Lebanon, and the Israeli military has struck targets throughout the country, ever since the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group attacked Israel on March 2 in support of Tehran.
Later Tuesday, Hezbollah’s media relations office told Reuters that the Shiite organization had received assurances from its backer Iran that it would demand a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon in its next phase of talks with the United States.
An IDF withdrawal will be the result of, and not a precondition for, continuing talks between Tehran and Washington, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries on Friday, Hezbollah said.
The group said there would be “no nuclear deal between Iran and the United States unless the Israelis withdraw” from Lebanon.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has publicly warned that any Israeli attack on Lebanon or continued presence in Lebanese territory would constitute a violation of the agreement with the United States.
Location announced for formal signing ceremony
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington and Tehran had signed a memorandum of understanding to extend their ongoing ceasefire by 60 days and to open the Strait of Hormuz, while holding negotiations on a long-term resolution to the conflict over Iran’s nuclear program.
The MOU, already signed digitally, is set to be signed formally in Switzerland on Friday. That same day, Iran and the US will start a new round of negotiations to reach a final agreement.
According to Axios, Trump aides Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will attend the meetings, alongside US Vice President JD Vance, as will Araghchi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf.
A military helicopter hovers as leaders arrive to take part in the ‘Summit on Peace’ in Ukraine at the luxury Burgenstock resort, near Lucerne in central Switzerland, on June 15, 2024. (Ludovic MARIN / AFP / File)
The signing ceremony is expected to be held at the Burgenstock mountaintop resort in central Switzerland, according to a statement issued by the Swiss government on Tuesd…
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