US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had suggested to Israel that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa should deal with Lebanon's Tehran-backed Hezbollah group as the Israeli campaign was causing too many casualties. Praising Sharaa as doing an "amazing job", Trump said at a G7 summit: "If Israel can't do the job (against Hezbollah) without killing everyone else, than he (Sharaa) will do the job. Syria will do the job." Sharaa last week quelled renewed speculation that Syria could become involved in the war in Lebanon, saying reports that Damascus intends to intervene militarily are “mere rumors.” Sources in Damascus told Asharq Al-Awsat at the time: “So far, there has been no official US request to Damascus related to any form of Syrian military intervention in Lebanon.” They said Tom Barrack, Trump’s envoy to Syria and Iraq and Washington’s ambassador in Ankara, had previously asked Damascus “to take a clear, explicit and serious position against Hezbollah.” They added that “entering the quagmire of war and sending military forces unilaterally is completely ruled out,” and that it was “very, very early” to discuss the possibility of Syrian forces entering Lebanon in support of the Lebanese army. Syria’s Interior Ministry said, “Lebanon is a sovereign state and not a backyard, as the former regime viewed it,” stressing that “coordination with Lebanon is the basic pillar for any assistance Syria provides to Lebanon.” Brigadier General Hassan Abdul Ghani, commander of the Border Guard Forces in the Syrian Arab Army, met last Thursday with a Lebanese army delegation headed by liaison official Brigadier General Michel Boutros. The talks focused mainly on “enhancing cooperation and coordination between the two sides in border control and combating smuggling activities, in a way that contributes to strengthening border security between the two countries.”
