After meeting Netanyahu, Trump urged Netanyahu to withdraw from Syria and Lebanon

Washington, DC – Agencies: The US website Axios revealed that President Donald Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to begin withdrawing Israeli forces from Syrian territory and to take a similar step in Lebanon. The website quoted US and Israeli officials as saying that Trump informed Netanyahu, during a phone call on Thursday, that the Israeli military presence inside Syrian territory is raising tensions and could lead to escalation. According to a US official, Trump told Netanyahu, “They do not want you there, and you should redeploy your forces,” clarifying that the US president had taken a similar stance regarding the Israeli presence in Lebanon.

In response, the office of the Israeli prime minister said in a statement that Netanyahu raised during the call “the need to establish security zones along Israel’s borders.” Axios noted that Trump’s request increases the pressure on Netanyahu about three months before elections that are considered decisive for his political and personal future, and it is unlikely that the Israeli prime minister will take significant steps to withdraw his forces from areas under his control in Syria, or allow further withdrawals in Lebanon beyond what he had previously agreed to.

The call between Trump and Netanyahu came a day after the US president met with his Syrian counterpart, Ahmed al-Sharaa, on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Axios reported that the Trump administration had spent months trying to reach a new security agreement between Israel and Syria before concluding that Netanyahu was not prepared to make the required concessions. According to US officials, the concessions demanded by Washington included a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army from Syrian territories it had taken control of following the collapse of the ousted President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024.