U.S. President Donald Trump’s unusual statement on Tuesday raised questions in Israel after he said he had suggested that responsibility for dealing with Hezbollah be transferred to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and that he had helped him come to power.
“It is unclear what he meant,” an Israeli official familiar with the matter said. “It sounds like a virtual reality. Hezbollah no longer exists in Syria, except for a few individuals who may be hiding. Syria will not act in Lebanon against Hezbollah; it is beyond its capacity. The only thing Syria can contribute is preventing smuggling from Iran through Iraq and Syria into Lebanon.”
Trump meets with Emir of Qatar, says Syria would do a better job of dealing with Hezbollah
(Video: The White House)
This is not the first time the possibility of Syrian intervention against Hezbollah in Lebanon has been raised, but at least the official statements coming out of Syria throughout the period, including last weekend, have maintained that there is no such intention.
In March, Reuters reported that the United States had encouraged Syria to consider sending forces into eastern Lebanon to help disarm Hezbollah. Sources familiar with the details said at the time that Damascus “is concerned about embarking on such a mission” and is “worried about the possibility of being dragged into a war in the Middle East and exacerbating sectarian tensions in Syria.” Reuters also noted then that the idea had first come up last year in talks between Syrian and U.S. officials.
Meanwhile, in recent months, the terrorist organization in Lebanon has been concerned not only about the front with Israel, but also about any possible development along the border with Syria. This is because al-Sharaa’s regime has been working nonstop to thwart Hezbollah activity inside Syria, where the group is known as an ally of the Assad regime.
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Trump says al-Sharaa 'has done an amazing job unifying the country and he is very firm against Hezbollah'
The Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar wrote on March 11 about security concerns in Lebanon over the nature of the Syrian military deployment along the border, asking whether Syrian President al-Sharaa was waiting for orders to enter Lebanon. The article cited several indications, including the Syrian president’s support for disarming Hezbollah. Military sources quoted in the report claimed that there has been a Syrian buildup along the Lebanese border since early February that does not reflect a defensive posture aimed at maintaining Syria’s internal security, but rather suggests a more offensive than defensive position. This was due, among other things, to the presence of rocket launchers in the area.
Al-Sharaa made clear at a meeting he attended on March 9: “We stand alongside Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in his call to disarm Hezbollah.” At least on the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons, a certain alignment of interests has emerged between Lebanon’s new leadership - which wants to disarm the terrorist organization and blames it for the recent wars and damage to Lebanon, and the Syrian regime - which views Hezbollah as a threat, supports its disarmament and backs the eradication of the Iranian-Shiite axis’s presence in Syria. Despite this, Lebanon’s leadership also does not want any Syrian intervention in the country.
Following the various reports, the Syrian president clarified on Friday that “the rumors regarding Syria entering Lebanon are completely baseless. Syria’s approach stems from a desire to stop the war in Lebanon, not expand it or intervene in it.”
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Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Lebanese President Michael Aoun
(Photos: Mosa'ab Elshamy, File/ AP, Lebanese Presidency / AFP)
In addition, over the weekend, sources who spoke with the Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper Al-Akhbar said al-Sharaa had recently assured Lebanese visitors that Damascus does not intend to intervene in Lebanon. It was also noted that the Syrian Interior Ministry said that “Lebanon is a sovereign state and not a backyard, as the previous regime viewed it.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun was quoted as saying on Thursday that he will "take into account Trump’s remarks about Syrian intervention in Lebanon, and understand that President al-Sharaa has a sense of responsibility and awareness — and that he will not enter the Lebanese swamp.”
In March, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi wrote on X that he had spoken with his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shibani, who assured him that the deployment of Syrian forces along the border with Lebanon was intended solely “to protect Syrian territory and control the borders against any security breach or smuggling.” According to Raggi’s statement, he was told that Syria has no intention of entering Lebanon or interfering in its internal affairs in any way.
In his remarks Tuesday on the sidelines of the G7 summit, Trump said of al-Sharaa that “he has done an amazing job unifying the country and he is very firm against Hezbollah.” According to Trump, “Israel’s fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed. 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. And I suggest that to Israel: to let Syria take care of Hezbollah is, to be honest with you, I think they do a better job of doing it.”