Trump has appeared to criticise Israeli military action in Lebanon, saying it has been fighting Hezbollah “too long and too many people are being killed”, according to Al Jazeera.

“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,” the US president says.

“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,” Trump adds.