The IDF will continue to strike Hezbollah in Beirut and anywhere in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said amid reports that Israel had ceded to a US request to constrain aerial attacks in Lebanon’s capital.
“I want to make it clear: we will continue to hit Hezbollah mercilessly in all parts of Lebanon – also in Beirut,” Netanyahu stated.
Such strikes will take place “according to operational considerations. We have proven this in the past period, and we will continue to prove it in the coming days as well,” Netanyahu stated.
His statement followed two briefings from senior Israeli sources that dismissed multiple media reports about a US request that Israel stop attacking Hezbollah targets in Beirut.
Their words echoed those that Netanyahu uttered during a visit Monday to the Golani base near Binyamina that suffered a Hezbollah drone attack on Sunday in which 63 soldiers were injured and four killed.
A source familiar with the issue told The Jerusalem Post, however, that the United States was unhappy with the IDF strikes in Beirut, even though it supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah.
International community urges protection for UN peacekeepers
Defense sources said that there was an effort to reduce activity in Beirut.
KAN News reported that a directive not to strike in Beirut came directly from the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday, after an IDF strike against the capital Thursday. The two airstrikes killed 22 people and wounded 117, Lebanese health authorities said. The IDF has not operated aerially in Beirut since then. According to KAN, any strikes in Beirut needed the approval of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Netanyahu on Monday night held security consultations in the Defense Ministry.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday night, the third such conversation since Thursday. Gallant stressed the “need to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway,” the Pentagon said.
Austin also “reinforced the importance of Israel taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon forces and Lebanese Armed Forces,” the Pentagon stated.
Gallant, according to his office, “highlighted the severity of the attack and the forceful response that would be taken against Hezbollah.” He also reiterated the measures Israel has taken to coordinate with UNIFIL and avoid harming its troops.
The United States and the international community have been outraged over IDF strikes that have hit UNIFIL compounds, injuring some of the peacekeepers.
Italy, Britain, France, and Germany issued a joint statement on Monday in support of UNIFIL.
The four nations reaffirmed “the essential stabilizing role” played by UNIFIL in southern Lebanon, adding that Israel and other parties had to ensure the safety of the peacekeepers at all times.
The UNIFIL mission, which includes hundreds of European soldiers, has said it has repeatedly come under attack from the Israeli military in recent days. Israel has called on the UN to move peacekeeping troops out of the area as it targets Hezbollah forces. The UN has insisted that the peacekeepers must remain at their posts.
Reuters contributed to this report.