Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under fire from both allies and opponents after failing to follow through on threats to bomb Hizbollah targets in Beirut, as a result of heavy pressure from US President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu said on Monday morning that he had ordered the military to bomb targets in the Lebanese capital in retaliation for Hizbollah’s drone attacks on northern Israel, piling further strain on a disintegrating ceasefire between the two sides that was announced by Trump in April.
But after a call between Trump and Netanyahu on Monday evening, during which the US president said he demanded Israel abandon plans for a “major raid”, the Israeli military did not carry out Netanyahu’s threats. Trump subsequently claimed Netanyahu had “turned his Troops around”.