Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, said Hezbollah’s recent attacks on Israel amid the expanding war with Iran underscore the group’s allegiance to Tehran, not Lebanon.
The group lashed out at Israel, “not to defend Lebanon. Not to protect Lebanese citizens. But to serve the agenda of the Iranian regime,” Danon told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday at an emergency session called by France to address renewed hostilities along the Israel‑Lebanon border.
Hostilities erupted after Hezbollah resumed rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel in early March, following the start of a U.S.‑Israeli military campaign against Iran that has broadened the region’s conflict.
Amid U.S. pressure, the Lebanese government and armed forces agreed to a late‑2024 ceasefire and pledged to disarm Hezbollah by the end of last year, in line with a long-standing U.N. Security Council resolution.
“Instead of stepping back after the ceasefire, it rearmed. It restocked. It rebuilt,” Danon said of the terror group, noting that Iran has given more than $1 billion dollars to Hezbollah, including $50 million dollars every month since the ceasefire.
“Tehran funds it. Tehran arms it. Tehran directs it,” Danon said. “Hezbollah pulls the trigger, but the ayatollahs in Tehran pull the strings.”
Danon also urged that Lebanon do more to rein in Hezbollah, saying Israeli citizens face only seconds to reach shelters after incoming rocket alerts. He said Beirut’s public condemnations have not translated into decisive action.
“While these statements are being made, Hezbollah continues to launch rockets from southern Lebanon,” Danon said. “And for Israeli families, that contradiction is measured in a matter of seconds. That is the time a mother, a father, a child, has to run to a bomb shelter before the missile strikes. That is why this cannot continue.”
Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the global body, commended Lebanon’s government for recent statements criticizing Hezbollah and for calling on Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to leave Lebanese soil.
“The next milestone is implementation,” Waltz said. “Lebanon’s security services must enforce this policy and prosecute those who violate it. Now is the time for the government of Lebanon to take back control of the entirety of its country. The United States absolutely supports that endeavor and that mission.”
Waltz added that Washington is “all too happy to apply the time and treasure necessary to do that.”
Russia, Pakistan and other council members sharply criticized the Israeli strikes inside Lebanese territory.
Ahmad Erfani, Lebanon’s ambassador to the U.N., told the council that his country is “trapped in a war it did not choose,” with Israel “persisting in its aggressions against Lebanon and Hezbollah persisting in actions that the government has classified as outside the law.”
He reiterated Beirut’s stated readiness for direct talks with Israel on a lasting ceasefire under international auspices, while urging the council to press Israel to stop its “threats against Lebanon” and halt what he called violations of Lebanese sovereignty.
