Lebanon’s government on Monday took the unprecedented step of banning Hezbollah’s military and security activity, prompting the Iran-backed group to lash out at the decision.
Hezbollah is represented in both the government and parliament, and the move came hours after it announced it had launched rockets and drones towards Israel early Monday to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli attacks.
Israel began bombarding Beirut’s southern suburbs and dozens of villages in south Lebanon, vowing to make the group pay a “heavy price”.
The strikes killed at least 52 people and wounded at least 154, according to the Lebanese government.
The Israeli military later said it had “completed a broad wave of strikes on Hezbollah terrorist organisation targets in southern Lebanon”.
“As part of the strikes, more than 70 weapons storage facilities, launch sites, and missile launchers” were hit, it said.
Following an emergency cabinet meeting earlier Monday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said: “The Lebanese state declares its absolute and unequivocal rejection of any military or security actions launched from Lebanese territory outside the framework of its legitimate institutions.
“This necessitates the immediate prohibition of all of Hezbollah’s security and military activities, considering them to be outside the law, and obliging it to hand over its weapons”.
In response, Mohammed Raad, the head of the militant group’s parliamentary bloc, condemned Beirut’s “rash decisions”, saying that “the Lebanese were expecting a decision rejecting the (Israeli) aggression”.
Salam had ordered the military and security agencies to take “immediate measures” to implement the cabinet decision and prevent “any military operation or the launching of missiles or drones from Lebanese territory”.
Justice Minister Adel Nassar announced in a post on X that the judicial authorities had tasked “security agencies with immediately arresting those who launched the rockets and their instigators”.
A source close to the Lebanese government reported that two ministers from the Amal Movement, Hezbollah’s fellow Shiite party and a key ally, and one minister from the group itself had approved the cabinet’s decision.
The new strikes sent civilians scrambling, sparking gridlocked traffic in Beirut as residents left in cars and on motorcycles, carrying whatever they could, with some expressing frustration.
“My baby daughter and I have been in the car for three and a half hours… for what? Why? For whom?” wrote user Ali Deeb on X.
Renewed strikes
Israeli strikes hit several buildings belonging to Al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-linked financial firm sanctioned by Washington, in several parts of the country, particularly the south.
They came after the Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings for several towns in the south and east, and in the capital’s southern suburbs.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing said on Monday that its commander in Lebanon, Adham Adnan al-Othman, was killed in the strikes.
Later Monday, AFP journalists heard more loud blasts in Beirut, and the state-run National News Agency said “enemy warplanes launched new raids on the southern suburbs”.
The US Embassy in Lebanon renewed its call for citizens to leave Lebanon immediately.
The education ministry announced the closure of schools, universities and educational institutions on Tuesday due to “security conditions”.
The authorities in Beirut have repeatedly said they do not wish to involve their country in the outbreak of conflict in the region, which started after a massive US-Israeli attack on Iran.
Beirut had decided last August to gradually disarm Hezbollah, following a year-long war fought with Israel that ended in a November 2024 ceasefire.
But the agreement did not stop Israel from continuing to strike targets it said were linked to Hezbollah, which it accused of trying to rearm.
The truce is monitored by a committee bringing together Lebanon, Israel, the United States, France and UN peacekeepers.
Salam on Monday called on the countries guaranteeing the ceasefire – the United States and France — to “obtain a clear and final commitment from the Israeli side to cease all attacks on the entirety of Lebanese territory”.
He announced the government’s “full readiness to resume negotiations” with Israel, “with civilian participation and under international auspices”.
