US President Donald Trump lashed out Monday at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's escalation in Lebanon in a profanity-laden phone call, the Axios news site reported.
Trump reportedly described Netanyahu as "crazy" and accused him of being ungrateful. He also intervened to halt Israel's proposed military action against Beirut.
According to the report, Trump warned Netanyahu that carrying out threats to bomb the Lebanese capital would only deepen Israel's international isolation.
He reportedly said that he had played a key role in keeping Netanyahu out of prison, referring to his backing during Netanyahu's corruption proceedings.
Summarizing Trump's comments during the conversation, one US official said: "You're f**king crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving you're a**. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this."
Another source familiar with the call said Trump was "pissed" and at one point shouted at Netanyahu: "What the f*ck are you doing?"
Trump was reportedly troubled by the high civilian death toll in Lebanon and criticized Israeli operations that involved destroying buildings in order to target a single Hezbollah commander.
Separately, an Israeli official told Axios that Israel is no longer intending to carry out strikes against Hezbollah targets in Beirut.
