Donald Trump has launched an unusually sharp attack on Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, describing Israeli strikes on Beirut as “vicious” and questioning whether the use of force was justified. The US president’s remarks, made at the G7 summit, marked a dramatic escalation in tension between the two allies. “Too many people are being killed,” Trump said, renewing criticism of Israel’s strategy against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The BBC’s State Department correspondent Tom Bateman reported that Trump even suggested Syria could handle Hezbollah with fewer civilian casualties – a clear rebuke to Netanyahu’s military approach. The comments come as Israel pushes deeper into southern Lebanon, carving out what it calls a “buffer zone” along the border. Israeli forces have marked a “yellow line” of occupation, claiming it is needed for internal security. But within that line, Channel 4 News has reported, Lebanese towns and villages have been demolished, and thousands of people forced to flee.
“Trump calls Israeli strikes on Beirut 'vicious' and says too many are being killed in Lebanon.”
Secunder Kermani, the broadcaster’s foreign affairs correspondent, visited Halta, a village just a few kilometres from the Israeli border. He found a landscape scarred by conflict, where homes lie in rubble and families have been driven from their land. Iran’s foreign minister has insisted that any peace deal must require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon. Netanyahu has explicitly rejected the idea, refusing to pull back from what he calls “security zones”.
Trump’s intervention puts him at odds with Netanyahu at a time when the region is already on edge. The US president has not spelled out what consequences Israel might face if it ignores his objections. But his unusually public criticism – calling the strikes “vicious” and questioning their wisdom – suggests frustration is boiling over. For Netanyahu, the message from Washington could not be clearer: the man who once called himself “the most pro-Israel president in history” is losing patience.