Blumenthal: Trump saying Syria could deal with Hezbollah ‘absolutely absurd’

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Tuesday panned President Trump for saying that Syria would more effectively combat Hezbollah than Israel.

“I think that idea is absolutely absurd. Remember Syria’s record on human rights and its acting as a proxy for Russia,” Blumenthal told host Kate Bolduan on “CNN News Central.”

“But most important, Israel cannot, in any way, depend on Syria to be in charge of its own defense,” he added.

Earlier Tuesday, Trump said that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “let Syria take care of” Hezbollah.

“To be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job of doing it,” Trump said alongside Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, during a Group of Seven meeting in France.

The president specifically praised Ahmed al-Sharaa, the president of Syria. Al-Sharaa took over the country after longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow when rebel troops entered Damascus.

While Trump noted that al-Sharaa, a former member of al-Qaeda, is “not a boy scout,” he praised the Syrian president for unifying the Middle Eastern country after its nearly 14-year civil war.

“He’s very good with Hezbollah, does not like them,” the president said of al-Sharra. “And I’ll tell you what, Israel’s [been] fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed.”

But Blumenthal said that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun instead needs further support in fighting Hezbollah.

Israel and Hezbollah have been in conflict since October 2023, with the former launching repeated attacks on the terror group in Lebanon since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began in late February.

“The key is to give that government in Lebanon the tools it needs and the support, but also, Israel will never surrender its own defense to Syria or any other country,” said Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

As of June 11, Israeli strikes have killed 3,711 people and wounded 11,483, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Human Rights Watch noted that 132 health workers and 247 children were among those killed.

The Israeli campaign in Lebanon previously derailed negotiations between the U.S. and Iran on ending hostilities. Israeli and Iranian officials have differed on whether the tentative peace agreement applies to Lebanon.

Trump on Tuesday also criticized Israel’s tactics in Lebanon. He specifically expressed his disappointment with an Israeli strike on Beirut on Sunday, hours before his administration reached a deal with Iran.

“You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody,” the president noted. “Because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses — and they’re not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.”