US President Donald Trump has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel should only conduct “surgically” planned military strikes in Lebanon and avoid a full resumption of war. Trump said in an interview with the publication Axios.
“I told Netanyahu that he should act more surgically. Not destroy buildings. He can’t do that. It’s too horrible and it makes Israel look bad,” Trump said in an Axios interview published on 29 April.
Trump said he likes Lebanon’s leadership and believes the Middle Eastern country can “come back.”
“Iran has destroyed Lebanon. Their proxies [” Hezbollah “] destroyed Lebanon. When Iran is destroyed, ” Hezbollah ” is automatically also destroyed,” Trump added.
“Hezbollah, a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, is considered a terrorist organisation in the US, while the European Union has blacklisted its armed wing but not its political wing.”
Israel has carried out devastating airstrikes on sites believed to belong to Hezbollah, mostly in southern Lebanon and near Beirut. “Hezbollah has launched rockets and drones towards Israel.
The fighting has continued despite a truce agreed to by the leaders of Lebanon and Israel and announced by Trump.