Israel threatens to step up attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon | Israel
Israel has threatened to step up its attacks on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, a day after Lebanon’s health ministry reported that four people had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Despite the ceasefire in November 2024, Israel maintains its military presence in five regions in southern Lebanon and continues regular attacks.
Israeli defense minister Israel Katz accused the Lebanese government of delaying efforts to disband Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah is playing with fire and the Lebanese President is dragging his feet,” Katz said in a statement. “The Lebanese government’s commitment to disarm Hezbollah and remove it from southern Lebanon must be implemented. Maximum sanctions will continue and even intensify; we will not allow any threat to those living in the north.”
Katz’s threats came as the Israel Defense Forces confirmed it had carried out an overnight airstrike in southern Lebanon, killing four members of the militant group’s elite Radwan Force.
According to the army, the attack in the town of Kfar Reman targeted the logistics chief of the unit, which was not named but was said to be involved in arms transfer and “attempts to rebuild the terrorist infrastructure” in southern Lebanon.
The IDF said the other three men killed were also members of the Radwan Force and that their activities violated the ceasefire.
Lebanese media identified the four men as Jawad Jaber, Hadi Hamid, Abdullah Kahil and Muhammad Kahil.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has been badly weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel, but remains armed and financially resilient. In September 2024, Israel killed the group’s longtime chief, Hassan Nasrallah, and many other senior leaders during the war.
Under the terms of a US-brokered ceasefire in November, Lebanon agreed to allow only state security forces to carry weapons; This was essentially a commitment calling for the complete disarmament of Hezbollah.
Since then, Beirut has come under increasing pressure from the United States, Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah’s local rivals to fulfill this promise. According to Lebanese army sources cited by Reuters, security forces detonated so many Hezbollah weapons caches that they ran out of explosives. Despite this, the military has had to strike a delicate balance, trying to maintain the November agreement without reigniting tensions at home.
Hezbollah, once the dominant political and military force in Lebanon, has been badly weakened by Israel’s war last year, which killed thousands of its fighters and Nasrallah. The conflict also killed more than 1,100 women and children and devastated large parts of southern and eastern Lebanon.
Hezbollah has since publicly committed to a ceasefire, refraining from attacks on Israel and not opposing the seizure of unmanned weapons depots in the south. But the group insists that the disarmament clause applies only to southern Lebanon, implying that renewed conflict could be possible if Israel acts more broadly against it.
On Thursday, Israeli ground troops launched a new deadly raid on southern Lebanon, prompting Lebanese president Joseph Aoun to order the army to counter such attacks.
Aoun had called for talks with Israel in mid-October after US President Donald Trump helped achieve a ceasefire in Gaza. However, Aoun later accused Israel of responding to his offer by intensifying air strikes.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report
