Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israel Defense Forces to “vigorously” attack the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group, his office announced on Saturday night.
The announcement followed the launch of several rockets and UAVs from Lebanon toward northern Israeli communities earlier in the day, in violation of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Beirut.
The IDF announced the interception of one rocket after air-raid sirens were activated in Kibbutz Manara, Kibbutz Misgav Am and Moshav Margaliot on Saturday afternoon. A second rocket struck in an open area in the north, it said. “There are no casualties; this is a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement by the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” the military stated.
Approximately an hour later, alerts were activated in several areas in the north due to a drone infiltration.
“The air force successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target launched from the direction of Lebanon into Israeli territory. Contact was lost with another suspicious aerial target,” the IDF announced.
In response, the military struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Southern Lebanon, including “military” structures used by its Radwan Force, which functions as Hezbollah’s special operations unit and for years trained to invade northern Israel and seize communities there.
The structures, located in IDF-controlled territory south of the ceasefire line, were struck to remove threats “following Hezbollah’s use of these buildings to advance terrorist activities against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel,” it said.
Some two hours after the army announced the renewed airstrikes, more air-raid sirens blared in the area of Malkia, a kibbutz in the Galilee Panhandle, warning of a suspected UAV infiltration.
“A suspicious aerial target was identified, and contact with it was lost. The incident has concluded,” the IDF stated.
The IDF continued its campaign against Iran’s Lebanese proxy over the weekend, eliminating more than 15 Hezbollah terrorists, including three it said were killed while transporting weapons.
Air-raid sirens continued to blare in Israel’s north on Sunday afternoon, with alarms activated in a number of communities in the Western Galilee. The IDF subsequently announced it intercepted three UAVs before they crossed into the Jewish state from Lebanon.
‘Disintegrating the ceasefire’
Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday, Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of “essentially disintegrating the ceasefire” through its incessant terrorist attacks.
“Therefore, as far as we are concerned, what obligates us is the security of Israel, the security of our soldiers, and the security of our communities,” the premier said. “We are acting vigorously according to the rules we agreed upon with the United States, and incidentally, with Lebanon as well.”
The IDF will maintain its freedom “not only to respond to attacks, which is obvious, but to thwart immediate threats and also to neutralize emerging threats,” he added.
Over the past two weeks, the military eliminated 46 Hezbollah terrorists, and “we will act with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,” said Netanyahu.
“One might get the impression that the IDF is not active there. It is active, and it is acting with force,” he continued.
Netanyahu on Friday vowed to maintain “full freedom of action against any threat, including emerging ones,” in Lebanon. “We attacked yesterday and we attacked today. We are determined to restore security to the residents of the north,” he said.
Jerusalem has “begun a process to achieve a historic peace between Israel and Lebanon,” and according to the prime minister, “it is clear to us that Hezbollah is trying to sabotage this.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend the ceasefire between the two countries for three weeks.
The announcement followed a meeting at the White House between Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the United States Nada Hamadeh Moawad.
“The meeting went very well,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah.”
U.S. Vice President JD Vance told reporters in the Oval Office that the truce would be under the same terms as the 10-day ceasefire which the two countries agreed to on April 16.
Hezbollah ended a previous ceasefire, reached in November 2024, on March 2, when it fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Iran. Israel and the U.S. launched a military operation in Iran on Feb. 28, which they suspended on April 8 pending talks between Iran and the U.S.
Metula Local Council head David Azulai told Ynet on Sunday that Netanyahu’s announcement of “vigorous” attacks was “pathetic.”
“There was nothing. There were strikes in Southern Lebanon, but not where they needed to be. There’s nothing new—this is just to tell us, ‘See, we’re attacking.’ It’s all one big bluff. We’ve been abandoned to our fate,” he charged.
Moshe Davidovich, head of the Mateh Asher Regional Council in the Western Galilee, added, “We understand that this is a sham ceasefire, and expect the prime minister and the defense minister to give the IDF the freedom of action to do everything necessary so that Hezbollah does not threaten the citizens of the State of Israel.”
