'You're f****** crazy': Trump lashes out at Netanyahu over planned Beirut strikes in fiery phone call
Netanyahu ordered attacks on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday
President Donald Trump reportedly lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a fiery phone call, where he told his Israeli counterpart that "everybody hates you" and suggested he would keep him out of jail.
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Conflicting reports have emerged following a call between the two leaders on Monday evening, where they discussed ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
It comes as Netanyahu ordered attacks on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday, signalling the risk of further escalation in a war that has complicated mediation towards resolving the US-Iran conflict.
Iranian state TV has said that a ceasefire agreed between Iran and the US was very likely to end if Israeli attacks persisted in Lebanon, where war has raged since Hezbollah entered the regional conflict on Tehran's side on March 2.
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Israel has carried out only two strikes on Beirut since Trump announced a ceasefire on April 16, even as hostilities have raged in southern Lebanon.
Trump took to Truth Social afterwards to claim that the call was "very productive" and "there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back."
However, Netanyahu has contradicted the US President's statement.
He wrote on X that the IDF will "continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon".
"Tonight, I spoke with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens—Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut.
"This stance of ours remains unchanged."
Two sources familiar with the conversation told Axios that Trump was "pissed" at Netanyahu and yelled at him, "What the f*** are you doing?"
A US official summarised the remarks: "You're f****** crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your a**. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this."
Trump said on Truth Social that he spoke with Iran-aligned Lebanese militia group Hezbollah through intermediaries and secured a pledge that it would not attack Israel.
No US president has ever spoken with Hezbollah, with or without intermediaries. The group is designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States.
A Lebanese official said that Hezbollah had informed the US, through Lebanon's parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, that it was willing to halt attacks on northern Israel in exchange for Israel sparing Beirut and its suburbs from any strikes.
The fighting in Lebanon has been the broadest spillover of the Iran war, displacing more than 1.2 million Lebanese through Israeli strikes and evacuation orders since March 2, when Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones into Israel to back its ally Iran.
In the latest advance, Israeli troops on Saturday seized the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle and a strategic ridge in southern Lebanon, the military said.
That occurred a day after one of the heaviest days of Hezbollah fire toward northern Israel since the April ceasefire, prompting school closures and restrictions.