Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said Sunday that U.S. President Donald Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the situation in Lebanon and sought ways to stop the war there. Al-Sharaa said Trump then suggested Syria might play a role in Lebanon as part of a security solution, but clarified that this was not intended to mean Syrian forces would enter Lebanon the next morning, according to a single report from a Syrian source.
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Sunday provided his own account of recent discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the war in Lebanon, in what appears to be the Syrian leader's most direct public engagement yet with Trump's proposal for a Syrian role against Hezbollah.
According to al-Sharaa, Trump expressed displeasure with the situation in Lebanon and sought ways to end the conflict. Trump then suggested that Syria might have "a role in Lebanon" as part of a security solution, al-Sharaa said. The Syrian president stressed that his remarks were misinterpreted as meaning Syrian forces would cross into Lebanon imminently — "that is not what he meant," al-Sharaa said.
The statement comes as The Zioneer has previously reported on Trump's increasingly public campaign to push for a Syrian role against Hezbollah. On Sunday (Jun 14), Trump said he was "close to letting Syria do it" — as The Zioneer reported. On Tuesday (Jun 16), Trump suggested that "if Israel can't avoid killing everyone in Lebanon, let Syria do the job." Later that day, al-Sharaa rejected a formal U.S. proposal for military intervention, fearing being seen as protecting Israel, and conditioning any action on an Israeli withdrawal from southern Syria — as The Zioneer reported that evening.
The current report, from a single Syrian source cited by al-Sharaa's office, is not independently corroborated. It sheds light on how al-Sharaa is publicly positioning himself after the reported rejection, framing his stance as clarifying a misunderstanding rather than an outright refusal.
4 developments
- StrongSyrian president al-Sharaa rejects US proposal to confront Hezbollah militarily in Lebanon, citing concern over perception and unmet Israeli demands
- StrongSyrian President al-Julani says Syria may aid disarming Hezbollah, but not by fighting
- StrongSyria's interim president: We have a deep problem with Hezbollah but don't want Lebanon destroyed
- StrongTrump says Syria 'would be happy' to handle Hezbollah, Lebanese president to visit Washington
Source and signal
- Internal intake