Trump Urges Netanyahu to Redeploy Israeli Forces Out of Syria and Lebanon

According to Axios, President Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call Thursday that Israel should begin redeploying its forces out of Syria and urged similar moves in Lebanon, citing concerns that Israel’s military presence in Syrian territory is creating tensions and could escalate, according to U.S. and Israeli officials. Netanyahu’s office said he raised the need for security zones along Israel’s borders. Axios reported the call came a day after Trump met Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey, and follows months of U.S. efforts to reach a new Israel-Syria security agreement that included a gradual Israel Defense Force (IDF) withdrawal from territory it has occupied since the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024. Axios also reported U.S. mediators met Tuesday in Rome with Israeli and Lebanese diplomats on implementing a framework agreement signed several weeks ago under which Israel committed to pull forces out of two “pilot zones” in southern Lebanon and allow the Lebanese military to deploy there; the IDF has not yet redeployed from those areas.