Benjamin Netanyahu Orders Israeli Military To Intensify Strikes Against Hezbollah In Lebanon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to intensify strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon to “crush” the armed group, announcing the order in a video released on Telegram on Monday night.

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli military to intensify strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon to “crush” the armed group”

Al Jazeera

Netanyahu said, “We are at war with Hezbollah, and we will intensify our strikes,” and the Israeli military said it launched attacks on Hezbollah infrastructure in the Bekaa Valley and several other areas in Lebanon.

Al Jazeera

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported the announcement sparked an exodus of people from the southern suburbs of Beirut, a major Hezbollah stronghold, as Lebanon marked Liberation Day commemorating the departure of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after an 18-year occupation in 2000.

The escalation came as daily strikes hit southern Lebanon, with a barrage earlier reported on the districts of Tyre and Nabatieh, and NNA reported four people were killed and three were injured in Kfar Reman in the Nabatieh district.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said Israel has killed 3,185 people since it entered a state of open war with Hezbollah on March 2.

France 24 reported that after Netanyahu’s call for escalation, an AFP correspondent saw residents fleeing the southern suburbs of Beirut, and the Israeli air force carried out successive strikes in the Bekaa valley in eastern Lebanon on Monday evening.

In the same escalation, Colonel Avichay Adraee said, “In light of Hezbollah's violation of the ceasefire agreement, the Israel Defense Forces are compelled to operate against it with force,” as he issued evacuation orders for 10 villages.

Anadolu Ajansı

Two far-right ministers pressed for a wider campaign, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich saying, “For every explosive drone strike, 10 buildings must fall in Beirut.”

Itamar Ben-Gvir called for a “return to intensive warfare” and wrote on social media that it was “time for the prime minister to bang on [US President Donald] Trump’s table and inform him that we are returning to war in Lebanon,” while also urging Israel to “cut off the electricity in Lebanon, conquer the Dahiyeh, and return to an intense war.”

The BBC reported that since the ceasefire agreement was signed on 16 April, Israeli attacks have been largely confined to the south of the country where Israeli troops remain, and it said fears in Beirut could grow that the attacks will widen to include Lebanon’s capital.

“Lebanon: Netanyahu orders the army to strike 'immediately' the bridges spanning the Litani River in southern Lebanon”

Anadolu Ajansı

The BBC also said Netanyahu stated Israel’s military offensive against Hezbollah had “eliminated... over 600 terrorists,” while adding that “what this requires of us now is to increase the strikes, to increase the intensity.”

The BBC reported that more than 400 people in Lebanon have been killed by heavy Israeli bombardment in the same period, including many paramedics and emergency service workers, and it said Israel issued near daily orders for Lebanese citizens to leave their homes in new areas in the south, adding to the more than one million people displaced.

France 24 said the Israeli army controls a strip of land approximately 10 kilometres (six miles) deep in Lebanese territory and designated the Litani River as the boundary of the area to be cleared of Hezbollah fighters.

France 24 further reported that Lebanon and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations, are holding another round of negotiations in Washington on June 2 and 3, preceded by a meeting of military officials at the Pentagon on May 29.