Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Tuesday reiterated Jerusalem’s demand that the official Lebanese government act against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Hamas terror organizations within its borders.
“Very early this morning, IDF fighter jets struck a Hezbollah terrorist in Beirut,” Sa’ar stated in a briefing for the foreign press. “He had recently been directing Hamas terrorists and assisting them in an attempt to carry out a major imminent attack against Israeli civilians. The terrorist posed a real and immediate threat, what we call a ticking bomb.”
According to Sa’ar, there is “cooperation between Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas on the soil of Lebanon” to initiate terror attacks against Israelis.
“Therefore, we had to eliminate the threat. Israel will continue to remove any threat to our citizens,” the Jewish state’s top diplomat told reporters.
“We expect Lebanon to take action to uproot terrorist organizations acting within its borders against Israel,” Sa’ar added, reiterating Israel’s repeated demand that Beirut uphold United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, as well as the most recent ceasefire understandings.
A truce brokered by the United States and France between Lebanon and Israel has been in place since Nov. 27, ending more than a year of cross-border hostilities linked to the Gaza war. Hezbollah has agreed under the ceasefire to move north of the Litani River, with the Lebanese Armed Forces deploying to the south. Neither action has taken place in full.
Sa’ar is scheduled to take off for Paris on Wednesday for a “formal visit,” including meetings with officials and lawmakers, he said on Tuesday.
“I will discuss with my counterpart [Jean-Noël Barrot] and other seniors in the French administration and the representatives the challenges and threats of the radical axis in this region to all of us, mainly Iran,” he said.
“Once again, its leader, only yesterday, declared his will to eliminate the State of Israel,” Sa’ar emphasized.
Regarding the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Sa’ar noted that the Palestinian terrorist organization “continues to push for the renewal of the war, refusing to release our hostages, refusing to disarm.”
Hamas “ignores the will and the rage of the citizens of Gaza,” continued the foreign minister. “Their interest is the end of the war. But instead of listening to them, Hamas oppressed them brutally. Hamas murdered, after torturing, demonstrators from the Gaza Strip this week,” he said.
He noted that the British Parliament had recently published “the most complete report in the U.K. on the Oct. 7 massacre, revealing chilling details, among them about the horrifying sexual crimes committed by Hamas,” stressing: “This is not a report from Israel.”
Sa’ar said on March 26 that while Jerusalem was still seeking a renewed ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas terrorists, it “won’t wait forever.”
In addition to renewing IDF operations in Gaza, which he described as “limited for now,” Israel is still conducting talks “aimed at reaching an agreement to extend the ceasefire and release the hostages,” he added.
