President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that a Syrian invasion of Southern Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah could be “very effective.”
Trump was asked during an Oval Office meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun about Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa’s suggestion that the Syrian military intervene against Hezbollah.
“We get along very well with the president of Syria,” Trump said, pointing to Aoun. “He’s done a very good job. I wouldn’t be surprised if this gentleman’s going to do a job just like that. He’s done a very good job.
“He’s pulled Syria together,” Trump added of al Sharaa. “He would like to come in and do something with Hezbollah. They’ve been fighting — he’s been fighting Hezbollah for a long time. I think it’d be very effective.”
Trump reportedly contacted Hezbollah, an Iranian-funded terrorist proxy group operating out of Southern Lebanon, through a regional intermediary shortly after the United States signed the memorandum of understanding with Iran. Then-ongoing fighting between the terrorist group and Israel threatened to blow up Trump’s MOU, which he has since abandoned in the wake of Iranian strikes against international commerce moving through the Strait of Hormuz and American military assets in the region.
The president said on Tuesday that he and Aoun would speak about how the U.S. can help stabilize Southern Lebanon amid an Israeli military withdrawal. Trump claimed that the White House has developed “some very concrete plans” for addressing the issue with assistance from regional partners.
Trump even floated that part of that process could involve direct communication between the White House and Hezbollah, provided Aoun was in support.
“I speak to everybody. I’ll speak to people that a lot of people think I shouldn’t be speaking to, and things work out,” Trump said. “If the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, you know he’s lived with Hezbollah for a long time, and if the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, I would.”
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You can watch Trump’s comments in full below.