Defense Minister Israel Katz on Friday morning warned Hezbollah against joining Iran’s aerial war against the Jewish state.
“The Hezbollah Secretary-General [Naim Qassem] has not learned the lessons of his predecessors and is threatening to act against Israel at the direction of the Iranian dictator,” Katz tweeted, referring to past chiefs of the terrorist organization who were slain by the Israeli Air Force in September and October 2024.
“I advise the Lebanese proxy to be cautious and understand that Israel has lost patience with terrorists who threaten it. If there is terrorism—there will be no Hezbollah,” the minister wrote.
Qassem declared on Thursday his group’s support for Iran, in the wake of the severe blows it was dealt by Israel’s military over the past week.
The Lebanese Islamist group is “not neutral, and therefore we express our position alongside Iran, its leadership and its people, and we will act as we see fit in confronting this brutal Israeli-American aggression,” Qassem said in a statement on Telegram, accusing the U.S. of involvement in Israel’s offensive.
“Tyrannical America and criminal Israel will not be able to subjugate the Iranian people and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” he continued, according to AFP.
Hezbollah has a duty “to stand by Iran and provide it with all forms of support that contribute to putting an end to this tyranny and oppression,” Qassem added.
Meanwhile, U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack, who is visiting Beirut, met with Hezbollah-ally and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and warned him not to get involved in the Israeli-Iranian war.
“I can say on behalf of President Trump …, that would be a very, very, very bad decision,” Barrack said.
Overnight on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces killed two Hezbollah terrorist commanders in Southern Lebanon, including Mohammad Ahmad Khreiss, commander of the anti-tank unit at the Iranian proxy’s Chebaa outpost in the Nabatieh area.
“During the war, the terrorist advanced numerous attacks against the State of Israel and led the anti-tank missile attack on Mount Dov, which resulted in the death of Sharif Suad on April 26, 2024,” the military said.
“In addition, the terrorist continued to advance terror activity in Southern Lebanon in a way that violated the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the IDF continued.
Sharif Suad, from Ras al-Ein in the Galilee, was a military contractor conducting “infrastructure activity” for the IDF when he was killed.