Trump tells Israel to use 'softer touch' in Lebanon, suggests Syria could target Hezbollah

PARIS, June 17. /TASS/. Israel should be more careful when conducting military operations in Lebanon, while Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa could address the Shiite Hezbollah problem, US President Donald Trump said.

"We have a little dispute over Lebanon, and I say ‘You can do a little softer touch, Bibi (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - TASS). You don't have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it, that's from Hezbollah," the US leader told a press conference after a Group of Seven summit in the French city of Evian-les-Bains.

He further claimed that al-Sharaa is ready to conduct military operations against Hezbollah.

"He'd love to go on it, you know. Hezbollah is an enemy of his. He'd just go and get them with precision," Trump believes.

He acknowledged that Lebanon probably doesn't like that idea, something that can be discussed when the Lebanese leadership visits the United States soon.

"But I don't know that people want that. Maybe they don't, maybe Lebanon doesn't. We have to be guided a little bit by Lebanon, and by the way, the president is going to be coming, prime minister is going to be coming over to see us very shortly, over the next week or two," Trump said.

Lebanese diplomat Adnan Mansour, who served as the foreign minister in 2011-2014, told TASS earlier that on June 11 al-Sharaa "put an end to the debate about the possibility of his country's participation in the Lebanese conflict, which was resumed at Washington's suggestion. He denied rumors of an intention to carry out a military intervention, stressing that Syria's current position is based on the desire to end the war in Lebanon, and not to interfere in it.".