EVIAN: US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had suggested to Israel that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa should deal with Lebanon's Tehran-backed Hezbollah militia as the Israeli campaign was causing too many casualties.
Praising Sharaa as doing an "amazing job", Trump said at a G7 summit: "If Israel can't do the job (against Hezbollah) without killing everyone else, then he (Sharaa) will do the job. Syria will do the job."
Sharaa "is very good with Hezbollah, does not like them", Trump said, adding that the Syrian leader, an ex-jihadist who came to power after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, is "no boy scout".
Israel "is fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed," he said.
"I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah as, to be honest with you, I think they would do a better job," said Trump.
Following reports that his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in decline, Trump said "Bibi (Netanyahu) has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon."
"Without me there would be no Israel because no other president was willing to do what I did," he said.
"I am not happy with the way Israel had handled themselves with Lebanon and Hezbollah. They should have been able to do the job faster," Trump added.
