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Netanyahu Orders Intensified Airstrikes on Hezbollah Amid Rising Drone Attacks

Netanyahu Orders Intensified Airstrikes on Hezbollah Amid Rising Drone Attacks
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to intensify attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, triggering a new wave of airstrikes that hit more than 70 targets across the country in 24 hours, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday and Tuesday pbs +1. The escalation came despite a month‑old, U.S.-brokered truce framework covering Iran and widely understood in Beirut to extend to Lebanon aljazeera.

Why Netanyahu Is “Pressing the Pedal” Against Hezbollah

In a video message on May 25, Netanyahu declared “we are at war with Hezbollah” and said he had instructed commanders to “press on the pedal even more” following a surge in Hezbollah drone and rocket attacks on northern Israel nytimes +1. The IDF said its latest strikes targeted Hezbollah infrastructure, weapons depots and launch sites in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and around Tyre, using roughly 85 munitions in a single day of operations nytimes +1.

Israeli officials framed the campaign as a response to what they call a “strategic” drone threat, with a senior U.S. official saying Hezbollah had ignored repeated American requests to halt its fiber‑optic guided drone attacks on Israeli troops pbs +1. Far‑right ministers pushed for an even broader offensive: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich argued that “for every explosive drone, 10 buildings should fall in Beirut,” while National Security Minister Itamar Ben‑Gvir urged a return to full‑scale war and pressure on Washington to allow it france24.

Civilian Fears, UN Warnings, and Diplomatic Pressure

Lebanon’s National News Agency and local reporters described residents fleeing the southern suburbs of Beirut — a Hezbollah stronghold — and towns in the south after Netanyahu’s announcement and the subsequent strikes, amid reports of several civilian deaths in villages such as Kfar Rumman and Arabsalim aljazeera +1. Lebanese health authorities have previously counted thousands of deaths since March in Israeli bombardments, while UN agencies say more than a million people have been displaced nationwide in the wider conflict aljazeera +1.

UN peacekeepers warned that expanding air and drone activity has already endangered their mission. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported multiple incidents this month, including drones exploding near its Naqoura headquarters, and said it was “increasingly concerned” about both Hezbollah and Israeli military operations close to UN positions jpost. Washington has publicly backed Israel’s right to respond to Hezbollah fire but has also tied the Lebanon front to delicate U.S.-Iran ceasefire and nuclear talks; military delegations from Israel and Lebanon are due in Washington this week as diplomats try to prevent a full collapse of the fragile truce architecture pbs +1.

The Bigger Picture

The intensification order underscored how the Lebanon front has become both a local struggle over border security and a pressure point in the broader U.S.-Iran war. Israel argues that only heavier blows will stop Hezbollah’s drone and rocket attacks; Lebanese leaders and UN officials warn that each new wave of strikes deepens a humanitarian crisis and risks dragging the country into another protracted war. With hardliners in Jerusalem demanding wider action and Hezbollah vowing resistance, the coming days of airstrikes and Washington talks will test whether regional diplomacy can still restrain a conflict many on both sides now describe as “untenable” pbs +1.

pbs Reuters; nytimes BBC; aljazeera Al Jazeera; timesofisrael New York Times; upi Jerusalem Post; theguardian PBS; france24 Reuters/Al Jazeera; 8am Times of Israel; jpost UN, relief agencies; jpost UNIFIL statements.