Problem recurs in Monterey 12.5
I have the same problem, except with 2015MBP13 on Monterey 12.5 / Safari 15.6. It has been syncing to my iphone on iOS 15.6.
I hadn't applied updates to the Mac for a while, so went from 12.1 to 12.5. com.apple.safari.history started going bananas after I installed 12.5. Perhaps not a properly crafted piece of software ...
Disabling iCloud sync has stopped the problem, and cooled down my sweating thighs.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.5