IDF hits Hezbollah in Beirut in response to cross-border attacks

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday attacked Hezbollah terrorist targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem said.

“In accordance with the directive of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, the IDF has just struck terrorist targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the Dahiyeh district of Beirut,” the PMO stated.

The strike came “in response to Hezbollah’s fire toward Israeli territory,” it added. “Israel will not tolerate attacks on its territory.”

The IDF confirmed that it “precisely struck a Hezbollah infrastructure site in Dahiyeh, Beirut.”

Several steps were taken to mitigate harm to Lebanese noncombatants, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance, it stressed.

The strike targeted a command center “used by Hezbollah terrorists to advance terrorist attacks against the citizens of the State of Israel and IDF soldiers operating in Southern Lebanon,” the military said.

The Iranian-backed terrorist organization launched three drones on Sunday morning that exploded inside Israel in two separate incidents, the IDF said. No injuries were reported.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Netanyahu to order airstrikes on Hezbollah in Beirut in response to the 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.

National Security Itamir Ben-Gvir said he would “reiterate and clarify” his position in a security discussion with Netanyahu on Sunday.

“For every drone—a missile. For every violation—return fire. For every UAV—Dahiyeh should tremble. For every hair on the head of an IDF soldier—a thousand Hezbollah terrorists,” he stated.

Earlier this month, the Iran launched several missile barrages at Israel in defense of Hezbollah, shattering a fragile ceasefire that had been in place since April 8.

The attack came after the IDF carried out a precision strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Jerusalem’s defense establishment on Sunday factored in the possibility that Tehran could resume missile fire in response to renewed strikes in Beirut, Channel 12 News reported.

“We saw how they reacted last time and we took that into account,” the broadcaster cited a security source as saying.

Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, said in response to the IDF attack that the Islamic Republic should “discipline the Zionist regime” before reaching a diplomatic agreement with the United States.

“If this rabid dog is not controlled, it will bite your leg before the ink is dry on the agreement,” the senior lawmaker tweeted.

Netanyahu and 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 fired 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 communities,” he said. “Any attack on the northern communities will lead to an attack on Dahiyeh.”

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.