Trump's Stupid Suggestion That Israel Stand Down & Let Syria Take On Hezbollah

President Trump says a great many stupid things.

I'm sure you can name a few off the top of your head. Injecting bleach, deploying nuclear weapons against hurricanes and raking forests to stop the wildfires in California.

But perhaps his idea that Israel should stand down and let Syria take on Hezbollah has to be amongst the stupidest ideas he has uttered in quite a while.

While meeting with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamada Al Thani during the G-7 Summit in France, Trump stated:

Israel's fighting Hezbollah for too long, and too many people are being killed. You don't have to knock down an apartment house every time you're looking for somebody because there's a lot of people in those apartment houses and they're not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.

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

On what basis does Trump believe that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa would do a better job than Israel of fighting Hezbollah?

For his part, Trump says that al-Sharaa "has pulled that country together very quickly, he's very capable, and he's very good for me."

Ah, so that's it. Trump thinks al-Sharaa is more capable of handling Hezbollah than Israel because "he's been very good for me." In other words, al-Sharaa knows how to flatter Trump. 

And, at the moment, Trump is upset with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and frozen Israel out of the ceasefire agreement and proposed peace negotiations with Iran.

In other words, Trump is being guided by his temper rather than reality. What makes Trump think that al-Sharaa has any interest in fighting Hezbollah? He has no desire to engage in any activity which might benefit Israel even if indirectly. There is also the practical argument that Syria's new government is in a rebuilding stage and stands little to gain by partaking in a military action in Lebanon. I also cannot imagine that Lebanon, whatever antipathy they have for Hezbollah, would welcome Syrian involvement given their virtual occupation during the Assad years. 

But let's says that Syria does embark on a military mission to rid Lebanon of Hezbollah. What reason is there to believe that it wouldn't result in the same level if not more civilian casualties than have arisen as a result of Israeli military operations?

Now it would be one thing if Trump were to covertly encourage Syria to fight Hezbollah. But to utter it as a verbal excretion out of anger towards Israel is not only stupid but it is reckless, irresponsible and unhelpful. Defeating Hezbollah requires careful and meticulous planning while being able to adapt to changing conditions on the ground not by throwing shit at the wall during an international summit to see what sticks.