President Donald Trump expressed disappointment on Tuesday with Israel’s recent military actions in response to Hezbollah, criticizing a strike on a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut as “vicious” and suggesting that Israel step back and let Syria handle the fight against the Iranian-backed terror group.

Speaking with the Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France, Trump criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of Israel’s northern front, suggesting that the IDF’s response was unnecessary and disproportionate.

“I didn’t like that he [Netanyahu] did an attack based on … a very minor little thing with some drones that were released,” Trump said, referring to a Hezbollah drone strike on northern Israeli communities on Sunday. “I saw that [Israeli] attack, I saw where that bomb went. That was vicious, that was too much.”

While Trump emphasized that he maintains an “unbelievable” and “great” relationship with Netanyahu, he insisted that the Israeli leader must exercise more restraint.

“Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon,” Trump said. “I’m not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and Hezbollah. They should have been able to do the job faster.”

“You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses and they’re not all Hezbollah,” he added. 

The president added that the protracted fighting “goes on forever” and threatens to cast a “negative light” on the newly announced memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran. 

Despite ongoing Hezbollah attacks targeting northern Israel, Trump proposed that Israel step back and let the government in Syria confront the group.

“I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah, because to be honest with you, I think they do a better job of doing it,” Trump said.

The diplomatic fallout highlights a growing disconnect over the parameters of the broader regional agreement. Senior U.S. officials confirmed that an Israeli military withdrawal from southern Lebanon is not a condition of the U.S.-Iran MOU, a position firmly backed by Netanyahu, who insists such a provision should not apply to Jerusalem.

However, Hezbollah’s media relations office claimed on Tuesday that the group received explicit assurances from Tehran that Iran would refuse to sign a final, permanent nuclear deal with Washington unless Israeli forces completely withdraw from Lebanese territory.

Trump also noted that he intends to submit any final agreement aimed at ending the war with Iran and restarting formal nuclear negotiations to Congress for review.