Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, in a phone call with US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, stated that Israel is determined to maintain its military presence in what it terms “security zones” inside Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip. The call, confirmed by Katz’s office on Thursday, also covered US military operations against Iran, with both sides agreeing to continue coordination in the face of any further regional developments.

Katz’s office said the minister emphasised that the deployments are a “central lesson” from the events of 7 October and are necessary to protect Israeli borders and communities from “jihadist forces”. He added that Israel has never asked the United States to act on its behalf along its frontiers. The statement comes days after the news site Axios reported that President Donald Trump, during a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urged Israel to redeploy its forces out of Syria and Lebanon, arguing that the presence was fuelling tensions. According to a US official cited by Axios, Trump told Netanyahu, “They don’t want you there. You should redeploy.” The Israeli prime minister’s office later confirmed that Netanyahu had raised the need for security zones along Israel’s borders during the conversation.

In Lebanon, Israeli forces remain deployed in a roughly 10‑kilometre-deep zone, while US‑brokered talks in Rome this week were described as “positive” and are expected to lead to the implementation of “pilot zones” from which Israeli troops would withdraw. Lebanese officials have demanded a clear timetable for further pullbacks. In Syria, Israel moved troops into a UN‑patrolled buffer zone after the fall of the Assad government in December 2024 and has since carried out repeated incursions and airstrikes, citing the need for a demilitarised south. Syrian citizens have staged protests against the Israeli presence, and Washington views the deployment as a potential trigger for escalation. In Gaza, the Israeli military controls 60 per cent of the territory and maintains a perimeter presence along the borders with Israel and Egypt.

The Katz‑Hegseth call also served to align positions on Iran, where the United States has conducted military operations that, according to Israeli and American readouts, were briefed to the Israeli side. Regional media in Iran have highlighted that the US and Israel failed to achieve their declared objectives in two recent rounds of hostilities, while Israeli sources claim that the second war resulted in the killing of Iran’s supreme leader and senior commanders. Against this backdrop, Netanyahu has postponed a planned trip to Washington next week after the funeral of US Senator Lindsey Graham was rescheduled for the end of the month. The Rome talks on Lebanon are set to continue, but no date has been announced for an Israeli withdrawal from the pilot zones, and Katz has conditioned any pullback on the full disarmament of Hezbollah across Lebanon.