Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order strikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut in response to the terror group’s ongoing attacks.
“The firing toward the northern communities is a test of the Dahiyeh doctrine that the prime minister declared,” Smotrich tweeted, referencing Netanyahu’s threats to hit Hezbollah’s stronghold in the Lebanese capital.
“I call on him to implement it with determination and force, and to bring down buildings in Dahiyeh today,” continued the senior Cabinet minister.
“We are in critical days for shaping the reality of the region for many years to come,” added Smotrich. “We promised security to the residents of the north, and we must deliver.”
Smotrich’s post came shortly after two Hezbollah suicide drones impacted in northern Israel.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago regarding a hostile aircraft infiltration in several areas in northern Israel, two impacts of suspicious aerial targets in Israeli territory were identified, near the Israel-Lebanon border,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
“No injuries were reported. The incident is under review,” stated the military.
On Saturday night, Smotrich had urged Netanyahu not to let the Iranian-backed terrorist organization “exploit the situation to harm the north.”
“There is only one way: for every shot fired at our territory, ten buildings in Dahiyeh should fall. Already tonight,” he tweeted.
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have repeatedly warned that the IDF would respond in kind to attacks by Hezbollah across the border.
“Yesterday, the prime minister and I, together with the IDF, led a move to establish the equation that Dahiyeh in Beirut will be treated the same as Israel’s northern communities,” Katz declared on June 2.
Katz said the Trump administration “endorsed the principle” set out by Jerusalem and warned the Lebanese government and other parties that the IDF could respond in Beirut.
“If attacks on the communities cease, or if attacks continue and we strike Dahiyeh in Beirut, then this equation will have been established,” he reiterated.
Katz reiterated Jerusalem’s stance on June 8, after the Iranian-regime and its terrorist proxies launched several volleys of ballistic missiles at the Jewish state in response to Israeli strikes in Beirut.
“The fate of Dahiyeh in Beirut is the same as the fate of the northern settlements,” he said. “Any attack on the northern communities will lead to an attack on Dahiyeh.”
Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah renewed its rocket and drone attacks on Israel on March 2, following the targeted killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of “Operation Roaring Lion” on Feb. 28.
In response, Israel launched a broad aerial campaign against Hezbollah targets and expanded military operations in Southern Lebanon aimed at preventing cross-border attacks on Israeli communities.
Netanyahu has accused Hezbollah of “essentially disintegrating” the April 17 ceasefire with Lebanon, which was renewed on June 4 during the fourth round of the historic direct talks between Jerusalem and Beirut in Washington.
