Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem has made himself “a marked target for elimination,” Defense Minister Israel Katz declared after the Iranian-backed terrorist group fired rockets at Israel overnight Sunday.
“Whoever follows in Khamenei’s path will soon find himself alongside him in the depths of hell, together with all those eliminated from the axis of evil,” he said, referencing Iran’s supreme leader, who was slain on Saturday in the Israeli Air Force’s opening strike of the war.
Saying the Lebanese terrorist organization “decided on the [rocket] fire under pressure from Iran,” Katz vowed the IDF would “not return to the rules of engagement of before Oct. 7,” adding, “We’ll defend the residents of the north and all citizens of the State of Israel with full force.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed the IDF to act with force against Hezbollah, while continuing to carry out the primary objective: crushing and defeating the Iranian terrorist regime and thwarting its capabilities,” the defense minister said.
The Israel Defense Forces struck senior Hezbollah operatives in the Beirut area overnight Sunday after several projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel.
At least one Hezbollah rocket was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force, while the others hit open areas.
Hezbollah confirmed that it targeted the Jewish state, saying the assault had been “revenge for the blood of the supreme leader of the Muslims, Ali Khamenei.”
