Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday there will be “no immunity” for Israel’s enemies, a day after its army attacked a Hezbollah commander, in its first offensive against Beirut’s southern suburbs since a ceasefire was declared last month.
Israel claimed the attack killed elite force commander Radwanfrom the Iran-backed group.
Hezbollah, which controls the southern suburbs of Beirut, has not yet issued any statement about the attack or the commander’s condition.
“He probably read in the press that he had immunity in Beirut. Well, he read it and that’s not the case anymore,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire on Israeli territory after Tehran came under an Israeli-American attack.
Wednesday’s attack increases pressure on the ceasefire in Lebanon, which emerged in parallel with a truce in the broader Middle East warwith the cessation of Israeli attacks in Lebanon being a key demand of Iran in negotiations with Washington.
Announced on April 16 by Donald Trump, the ceasefire in Lebanon has reduced hostilities: The Beirut area had not been attacked by Israel for weeks before Wednesday’s attack. However, skirmishes have continued to the south, where Israel has established a security zone.
Netanyahu claimed that the Hezbollah commander, identified by the Israeli military as Ahmed Ali Balout, “thought he could continue to direct attacks against our forces and communities from his secret terrorist headquarters in Beirut. “I tell our enemies in the clearest way possible: no terrorist has immunity.”
