President Trump urged Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during a phone call last Thursday to begin redeploying Israeli forces from Syria and to move forward with additional withdrawals from Lebanon, according to an Axios report.

President Trump warned that the continued IDF presence in southern Syria is creating tensions and could lead to further escalation. A U.S. official quoted by Axios said the president told Netanyahu, “They don’t want you there. You should redeploy,” adding that the same message also applied to Lebanon. The Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu responded by emphasizing Israel’s need for security zones along its borders.

The conversation took place one day after President Trump met Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey. The Trump administration has spent months attempting to broker a new security arrangement between Israel and Syria that would include a gradual Israeli withdrawal from territory captured following the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024. U.S. officials ultimately concluded that Netanyahu was unwilling to make the concessions Washington was seeking.

In recent weeks, several incidents have taken place in southern Syria, where Syrian civilians protested the IDF presence and clashed with Israeli troops.

The White House declined to comment on the report but did not deny it. Instead, a U.S. official said President Trump has a strong relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu, that Israel has always been a great ally of the United States, and that there has been no greater friend to Israel or stronger fighter for peace than President Trump.

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