Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the military to prepare for an expanded operation in Lebanon after heavy Hezbollah rocket fire, warning that Israel could take control of territory if Lebanon’s government failed to restrain the terrorist group.
Katz made the comments after a morning security assessment with IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram and other senior officials.
“Hezbollah launched heavy barrages yesterday toward the State of Israel,” Katz said in a statement. He said the military had responded with force in Beirut’s southern suburbs and against Hezbollah targets across Lebanon.
Katz said he had warned Lebanon’s president that if the Lebanese government was unable to control the area and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern Israeli communities and firing into Israel, “we will take the territory and do it ourselves.”
“We promised quiet and security to the northern communities, and that is exactly what we will do,” he said.
The IDF also said it had killed Abu Ali Riyan, the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force in southern Lebanon, in a strike Saturday.
According to the military, Riyan oversaw the unit’s fighting in south Lebanon and was the central figure responsible for coordinating operations, recruiting operatives and managing its weapons supply chain. The military said more than 100 terrorists had been killed so far and more than 60 Radwan Force command centers had been destroyed.
Israel said its campaign had dealt a significant blow to the Radwan Force, which it described as a key offensive and propaganda arm of Hezbollah and the unit responsible for cross-border raid plans.
The military also said it killed at least two senior figures overnight in the Imam Hussein Division, a militia affiliated with Iran’s Quds Force and established by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. It identified the two as the division’s commander, Abu Ali Rida, and his deputy, Jihad Alsafira. Israel described the Imam Hussein Division as one of the most active Quds Force-linked groups operating in Lebanon.
Revolutionary Guard commander Abu Dharr Mohammadi eliminated in Beirut
(Video: IDF)
In a separate statement, the military said it had killed a Revolutionary Guard commander working with Hezbollah’s missile unit in Beirut on Tuesday. It identified him as Abu Dharr Mohammadi, whom it described as a central figure in military coordination between Hezbollah and Iran’s government and as a liaison between Hezbollah and senior Iranian officials.
The military said Mohammadi played a major role in building Hezbollah’s missile capabilities and in efforts to restore them after Israel’s 2024 ground offensive in Lebanon. It said he was an influential source of knowledge on Hezbollah’s strategic weapons systems, led processes within the group’s missile branch and directed missile launches toward Israel.