Trump suggests Syria should tackle Hezbollah, unsettling Lebanon and Israel

Beirut,UPDATED: Jun 28, 2026 15:50 IST

US President Donald Trump has unsettled governments across the region by suggesting that Syria, and not Israel, should take on Hezbollah in Lebanon. The idea has surfaced as the White House has grown increasingly unhappy with Israel's war against the Iran-backed group, even though Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has said his government has no plans to intervene.

While it is not clear how seriously the White House is pursuing the proposal, the possibility of a Syrian role in Lebanon has caused concern in both Lebanon and Israel. Israel views al-Sharaa's Islamist-led government with suspicion and has held a strip of southern Syria since he took power, while Syria has also become a new point of tension between Israel and Turkiye, a key backer of the government in Damascus.

On the sidelines of the G7 summit earlier this month, Trump said Israel's war with Hezbollah was going on for too long and that "too many people are being killed". More than 4,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Hezbollah joined the wider Iran war with a March 2 attack on Israel, including hundreds of women and children. Israel says it targets Hezbollah and takes steps to protect civilians.

"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," Trump said. "I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah. Cause to be honest with you, I think they'd do a better job."

Days later, on the first day of US-Iran talks in Switzerland, Fox News journalist Trey Yingst said Trump had expressed disappointment in an interview that Israel could not "put Hezbollah away" and had said he was "close to giving it to Syria" because he believed al-Sharaa would be more precise. The White House declined to comment and referred to Trump's earlier remarks.

Syrian officials then moved to contain the fallout. In a speech in Damascus on June 13, al-Sharaa said, "There are people spreading rumours that Syria will intervene in Lebanon. This is not true. We are calling for a permanent end to the war and the strengthening of institutions, and for there to be economic ties and a calming of the situation in Lebanon."

In an interview with the Emirati network Al Mashhad on June 21, al-Sharaa said Trump's comments had been misunderstood. Trump, he said, had "spoke about Syria's role in finding a safe and peaceful solution, but the statement was misinterpreted as if Syria were going to invade Lebanon tomorrow morning". He added that Syria had "presented our vision for a solution to the United States, which is to stop the war and address the negative effects on Lebanon and Syria, and to find different economic, political and social solutions".

Hezbollah and Iran had backed former Syrian president Bashar Assad during Syria's 14-year civil war, while al-Sharaa led an insurgent group trying to topple him. But since taking power in December 2024, Syria's new rulers have said they are focused on rebuilding the country, do not want to settle old scores and want to stay out of wider regional conflict.

After Israel and the US launched their war against Iran, which widened the conflict across the region, Syria stayed on the sidelines. In the early weeks of the war, the Syrian military sent reinforcements to the border with Lebanon to prevent weapons smuggling or any spillover, officials said. In March, Syria accused Hezbollah of firing artillery shells towards Syrian army positions across the border, which Hezbollah denied. The tensions did not go further. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told The Associated Press in March that Turkiye had stepped in to calm the situation.

Al-Sharaa told Al Mashhad that "the decision of (Hezbollah) to enter into the Syrian conflict was wrong", but said he was willing to hold a "dialogue" with the group and could even mediate between Lebanese factions as they debate the future of Hezbollah's weapons.

US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack had denied in March reports that Washington had proposed Syrian intervention against Hezbollah, but Trump has since raised the idea publicly. Randa Slim, director of the Middle East Programme at the Washington-based Stimson Centre, said the proposal was "at best, driven by a profound ignorance of the dynamics on the ground".

"Syria needs to focus on a myriad of complex and daunting challenges - not least rebuilding a shattered country and repatriating millions of refugees," she said. "Syrian forces are far from a coherent military institution; they include thousands of foreign jihadi fighters of uncertain loyalty and discipline."

In the months after Assad's fall, clashes between supporters and opponents of al-Sharaa turned into sectarian revenge attacks, with Sunni Islamist fighters linked to the new government accused of attacking Alawite and Druze civilians. The violence sharpened fears in Lebanon among Shiite, Christian and Druze communities of unrest spilling across the border. Many Lebanese also still carry memories of Syria's long occupation of Lebanon, which began during the civil war and ended in 2005.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media, said top Israeli security officials met on Wednesday to discuss the issue. The official said Israel was also worried by signs that Syria could try to regain its old influence in Lebanese politics, although its main concern remained Hezbollah.

Trump's suggestion that Syria should tackle Hezbollah has therefore opened a new layer of tension around the Lebanon war, drawing denials from Damascus, concern in Israel and unease in Lebanon, even as Syria's leadership says its priority is ending the fighting and keeping out of another regional conflict.

With PTI Inputs

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