Trump Presses Syria on Hezbollah, Raising Regional Alarm

BEIRUT — President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that Syria, under its new Islamist-led government, should take military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon — a proposal that has shocked regional capitals and raised alarms in both Beirut and Jerusalem. The diplomatic push, which Trump first floated at the G7 summit in Evian, France in early June and reiterated in a Fox News interview on June 21, signals a significant shift in U.S. Middle East policy and threatens to upend delicate negotiations already underway between Washington and Tehran.

According to AP News, Trump has expressed growing frustration with Israel’s conduct of the war against Hezbollah, complaining that the campaign has dragged on too long and caused too many civilian casualties. “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 at the G7 summit. He added, “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.”

Syria’s Firm Rejection

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has firmly ruled out any military intervention in Lebanon. In a June 21 interview with the Emirati network Al Mashhad, al-Sharaa said Trump’s remarks had been “misunderstood” and emphasized that Syria seeks peaceful, economic, and political solutions — not military ones. As The Times of Israel reported, al-Sharaa stated, “The solution for Lebanon will not come through war and the bombing of cities. We are looking for economic channels between Lebanon and Syria, not military ones.”

Al-Sharaa’s rejection is rooted in Syria’s precarious position. Since his Islamist forces overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the new government has focused on rebuilding a country devastated by 14 years of civil war, repatriating millions of refugees, and gaining international legitimacy. Syria’s military remains fragmented, incorporating thousands of foreign jihadi fighters of uncertain loyalty, and the country faces a fragile security situation including sectarian violence between Sunni Islamist fighters and Alawite and Druze civilians.

Regional Alarm

The prospect of Syrian military involvement in Lebanon has revived painful memories of Syria’s 1976 invasion and subsequent 29-year occupation of its smaller neighbor. Many Lebanese bitterly recall decades of Syrian political domination, military presence, and alleged involvement in the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. As UPI noted in its analysis, any new military intervention “could ignite sectarian violence between forces of the Sunni-dominant Syrian regime and Shiite Hezbollah fighters.”

Israel, too, is alarmed. Top Israeli security officials convened a meeting on the subject in late June, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Israel views al-Sharaa’s Islamist-led government with deep suspicion and has seized control of a strip of southern Syria since he took power. While Israel’s primary concern remains Hezbollah, the prospect of Syria assuming its old role in Lebanese politics adds a volatile new dimension to an already explosive regional landscape.

The Broader Context: U.S.-Iran Talks and the Lebanon Framework Deal

Trump’s push to involve Syria comes at a critical juncture. The Lebanon conflict has threatened to derail U.S.-Iranian negotiations underway in Switzerland. A U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding signed in late June calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon, and on June 26-27, Israel and Lebanon signed a U.S.-mediated framework agreement for ending the conflict, including a minor IDF withdrawal from parts of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has rejected the deal as “null and void.”

Trump’s frustration with Israel appears to stem partly from his desire to finalize a deal with Iran. As Middle East Eye reported, Trump has said he is “not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah” and that the conflict “throws a negative light on the big deal, and that’s the deal with Iran.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended Israel’s military campaign and its security zone in southern Lebanon. “What would America do? Would it say, well, there’s nothing we can do? Let’s hold our fire?” Netanyahu asked at a policy summit in Jerusalem. “No! You know damn well what America would do. It would cross the border, create a security zone, kill the terrorists, and protect its people until the threat is removed.”

Expert Analysis

Analysts have sharply criticized Trump’s proposal as unrealistic and potentially dangerous. Randa Slim, director of the Middle East Program at the Stimson Center, told AP News that the suggestion is “at best, driven by a profound ignorance of the dynamics on the ground.” She noted that “Syria needs to focus on a myriad of complex and daunting challenges — not least rebuilding a shattered country and repatriating millions of refugees.”

David Wood, a senior Lebanon analyst at the International Crisis Group, described al-Sharaa as “a very pragmatic leader” who is “trying to be pragmatic in terms of what Syria can realistically do in relation to Lebanon while also not dismissing Trump’s suggestion.” Wood warned that any military intervention would be “unwise” for both Lebanon and Syria.

Makram Rabah, a political analyst at the American University of Beirut, attributed Trump’s insistence on involving al-Sharaa to an idea originating from U.S. envoy Tom Barrack, whose “Orientalist approach can only make things worse.”

What’s Next

The coming weeks will be critical. The U.S.-Iran talks in Switzerland continue, with the Lebanon conflict as a key sticking point. Israel and Lebanon are scheduled for further negotiations in Washington, with the IDF reportedly urging Israel’s political leadership to intensify talks to isolate Hezbollah. Meanwhile, more than 4,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Hezbollah launched its March 2 attack on Israel, and the humanitarian toll continues to mount.

Whether Trump will follow through on his suggestion — and whether he can exert sufficient pressure on Syria to change al-Sharaa’s calculus — remains an open question. What is clear is that the proposal has injected a volatile new element into an already unstable region, with consequences that could reverberate far beyond Lebanon’s borders.