Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday there will be “no calm in Beirut” unless the Iran-backed terrorists of Hezbollah stop attacking Israel with rockets and drones.
Israel shut down schools in towns near the Lebanese border on Sunday after Hezbollah’s latest attack while the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) expanded its operation in southern Lebanon, capturing the historic Beaufort Castle.
“The southern suburbs of Beirut are no different from the towns in northern Israel: If there is no calm in the north, there will be no calm in Beirut,” Katz declared in a video statement on Sunday.
“We will not allow a situation in which our towns and our citizens are attacked while calm is maintained in Beirut,” he warned.
Israel stepped up its airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Monday, issuing evacuation orders for the southern suburbs of Beirut along with several border towns.
“The State of Israel is not fighting the Lebanese people, but the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” the IDF said on Monday.
“If Hezbollah continues to fire missiles at Israeli cities and towns, the Israeli army will respond by targeting objectives in the southern suburbs,” the statement added.
Heavy ground fighting was reported around Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon over the weekend. The IDF said it captured the site over the weekend, an achievement praised by both Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The Israeli flag is once again flying over the peaks overlooking the Galilee communities. Our heroic soldiers have captured Beaufort once again and will remain there as part of the security zone in Lebanon,” Katz said on Monday.
Netanyahu released a video statement putting this weekend’s action in the context of Israel’s long struggle for security in Lebanon and noting that thousands of Hezbollah terrorists have been eliminated.
“I have instructed the IDF to expand the incursion in Lebanon. Our forces have crossed the Litani River. They took dominant terrain. They captured the Beaufort ridge. And now my instruction is to deepen and expand our hold on places that were under Hezbollah’s control,” Netanyahu said.
“The capture of Beaufort is a dramatic stage and a dramatic change in the policy we are leading. We have broken the barrier of fear. We are taking the initiative, we are operating on all fronts — in Syria, in Gaza, in Lebanon; we have established security zones beyond our borders to protect our communities,” he said.
The Israeli military posted videos of its forces taking control of the 900-year-old castle and raising the Israeli flag:
Hezbollah responded that it was counterattacking and waging a “war of attrition” against Israeli forces.
“Since dawn yesterday and until the release of this statement, the Israeli enemy has encountered great difficulty in stabilizing its forces around the fortress,” Hezbollah claimed.
Beaufort Castle is located near Nabatieh, a city on the north side of the Litani River, which Israeli forces crossed for the first time since 2006 over the weekend.
The IDF has reportedly encircled Nabatieh, which is a vital economic hub for southern Lebanon.
Israel intensified its operation in Lebanon after Hezbollah launched more attacks against Israel over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets and drones at the Israeli towns of Safed, Kiryat Shmona, and Karmiel in upper and western Galilee.
The IDF said many of the rockets were intercepted, but some got through along with a Hezbollah drone that struck an Israeli military zone near the border community of Shomera.
Eyewitnesses recorded video of Hezbollah rockets impacting near Nahariya Beach, sending beachgoers running for cover:
Another Hezbollah rocket struck the city center in the northern town of Kiryat Shmona on Friday night, causing “significant” damage but no deaths or injuries.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett joined local Kiryat Shmona leaders in demanding a more aggressive response, with Bennett declaring that Hezbollah-dominated suburbs of Beirut “must tremble until security returns to the north” — language very similar to what Defense Minister Katz would say on Monday.
“The government is returning us to the contemptible policy of containment and normalizing an intolerable and unacceptable situation,” Bennett said.
“Over the weekend, sirens were heard every 20 minutes across the north and people were forced to seek shelter. This is not victory,” he said.
“People here are already desperate, and that’s the most dangerous situation for our city. We feel abandoned. Neither I, nor my husband, nor our children should have to live like this,” said Kiryat Shmona resident Shiran Ohayon.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid demanded a “powerful response” to Hezbollah’s attacks, while Gadi Eisenkot, chair of the recently-formed Yashar party, said there has been a “lack of leadership” from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This isn’t a ceasefire, this is a war with one participant,” Eisenkot said.
On the other hand, Middle Eastern governments like Saudi Arabia and Egypt condemned Israel’s operations in Lebanon as a violation of Lebanese “sovereignty” and demanded international pressure to force Israel to withdraw.
“We call on the international community to assume its responsibilities to put an end to this aggression and the Israeli military movements aimed at expanding into Lebanese territory,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry denounced “Israel’s premeditated intentions to impose a new military reality on the ground, in blatant violation of all norms and rules of international law and the United Nations Charter.”
Iranian state media reported on Monday that “all diplomatic communication and messages with the United States” have been suspended due to Israel’s operations against Hezbollah.
In a televised address on Saturday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Israel’s “scorched-earth policy and collective punishment” in southern Lebanon marked a “dangerous escalation.”
Salam said Israel’s operation would bring it “neither security nor stability,” and demanded a “swift and real ceasefire.” He also pushed back against Lebanese criticism of talks with Israel, calling those negotiations “the least costly path for our country and our people.”
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