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President Donald Trump voiced his frustration with what he described as Israel’s “minor war” against Lebanon amid his hard push to seal a final deal with Iran.
During comments at the G7 Summit in France, the president told reporters that, with respect to Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the fight has been going on for “too long, and too many people are being killed.”
He continued, “And 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.”
Israel’s fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon erupted amid the war with Iran, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saw an opportunity amid wartime chaos to send the IDF into places like Beirut in pursuit of Israel’s terrorist enemy.
Israel has reportedly killed at least 3,783 people in Lebanon and wounded over 11,000 others, according to data shared by Al Jazeera. Nearly 250 of the reported casualties, tragically, have been children.
It is worth noting that more than an estimated 2 million Christians also live in Lebanon, accounting for about 33 percent of the population, per Embrace the Middle East. Tens of thousands of Lebanese people have also reportedly been displaced since the IDF began attacking the region.
President Trump said that he suggested to PM Netanyahu to “let Syria take care of Hezbollah, because to be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job of doing it.”
The president said his relationship with Netanyahu was “great,” but urged him to “be more responsible with respect to Lebanon – Lebanon used to be a great country.”
He also added, “No, I’m not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah; they should have been able to do the job faster. It just goes on forever…it throws a negative light on the big deal.”
The “big deal,” of course, is the preliminary peace deal President Trump netted with Iran – a deal that could be signed as soon as this week, RSBN previously reported.
However, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has strongly asserted that the war cannot end unless Israel totally withdraws its forces from Lebanese territory.
By contrast, President Trump told reporters at G7 that the peace deal with Iran could survive even amid Israeli attacks on Lebanon. “It can, but I can consider that the minor war, Iran’s the big one, but we have that little pinprick out there that constantly rears its head, and that’s Hezbollah,” he stated.