Hezbollah called for an “open war” with Israel on Tuesday as the Iran-backed terrorist group came under fire from the Jewish state in Lebanon.
“The Zionist enemy wanted an open war, which it has not stopped since the ceasefire agreement,” senior Hezbollah political leader and Lebanese parliament member Mahmoud Qamati said. “So let it be an open war.”
Israel and Hezbollah struck a ceasefire in November 2024 amid the broader war with Hamas. Before its ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, Israel heavily targeted the Iranian proxy in Lebanon.
Now, Israel is conducting ground operations in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah. Simultaneously, Israeli airstrikes on the neighboring country are intensifying.
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Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz directed the military to cross the border on foot and to seize further territory in Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces is carving out a buffer zone within the country as part of an “enhanced forward defense posture,” an army spokesman said.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon said its members saw Israeli troops crossing the Lebanese border early Tuesday “before returning south of the Blue Line,” referring to the withdrawal line along the border. The group is calling for both Israel and Hezbollah to de-escalate and to honor a 2006 ceasefire agreement.
“Over the past two days, as well as dozens of rockets and missiles fired into Israel claimed by Hizbullah, UNIFIL has recorded several airstrikes and hundreds of incidents of firing across the Blue Line and 84 air violations,” the peacekeeping force said in a statement. “Each of these incidents constitutes a serious breach of resolution 1701.”
The development in the joint U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran comes one day after Hezbollah launched missiles and drones toward Israel in an attempt to defend its state sponsor. Israel returned fire with renewed airstrikes, killing at least 52 people in Beirut and southern Lebanon and wounding more than 150 others.
Some senior Hezbollah leaders, including the group’s parliamentary head Mohammad Raad and intelligence chief Hussein Makled, were among the deceased after the Israeli strikes.
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Furthermore, Hezbollah is facing political pressure from Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who formally banned the Iranian proxy from retaliating against Israel militarily and relegated the group to its political duties.
Qamati subsequently criticized the Lebanese government over the ban, saying it didn’t stop Israel from striking parts of Lebanon on an almost daily basis for nearly 15 months.
