Hezbollah continued its long line of very bad decisions late yesterday by inserting itself into the war on Iran. Despite clear warnings from both Lebanon and Israel about the consequences, the Iranian proxy terror network launched missiles at northern Israel. Its leadership probably hoped to alleviate the massive pressure on the regime in Tehran by diverting the IDF's attention.
Rockets and drones launched from Lebanon set sirens blaring across northern Israel in the early hours of Monday, as the Hezbollah terror group entered the fray to assist its backer, Iran, with its relentless attacks against the Jewish state.
The terror group’s attacks — which it said were in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the opening minutes of the joint Israeli-US assault on Iran on Saturday — were met with an immediate response from Israel, with waves of airstrikes across Lebanon, including multiple strikes in the capital, Beirut, and the Dahiyeh suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold. ...
The attack came hours after Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem vowed that his group would confront Israel and the US over their strikes on Iran, despite the Lebanese government’s plea for it to remain on the sidelines as it had done during the previous 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June 2025.
But the request fell on deaf ears as Hezbollah moved ahead with its attack, marking the first time that the Iranian proxy had fired at Israel since the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect in November 2024.
The request fell on stupid ears. Israel has already called up 100,000 reservists for their Operation Roaring Lion, with most of those presumably being infantry units. The IDF is not using infantry units in Iran, for the same reason we aren't – it's not necessary. If Qassem thought he could help Iran by diverting Israel's attention from their air campaign, he just found out that the Israelis can walk and chew gum at the same time ... again ... after watching Israel fight a four-front war less than a year ago.
Israel claimed an important Hezbollah scalp almost immediately, in fact:
🎯Muhammad Ra’ad, head of Hezbollah's parliamentary faction, was reportedly eliminated, per Saudi Al-Hadath Network.
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) March 2, 2026
And that's not all, either:
In response to the rocket fire, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said the military launched an “offensive campaign” against Hezbollah that would likely last several days.
“We have begun an offensive campaign against Hezbollah. We are not just on the defense, now we go on the offense,” he said during an assessment following Hezbollah’s rocket and drone attacks on Israel.
“We need to prepare for several days of fighting, many. We need strong defensive readiness and continuous offensive preparedness, in waves,” he said.
The "offensive campaign" may include another invasion of the sub-Litani region that Hezbollah was supposed to vacate under the terms of the US-brokered cease-fire last year. The Israelis have pushed Lebanon to force Hezbollah out and to disarm them as compliance with that deal demands, and now the Israelis may re-secure the region themselves:
IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin on Monday said that it was still possible that the IDF might invade southern Lebanon in response to Hezbollah's rocket attacks overnight.
Defrin did not commit to such an invasion, but notably did not rule it out. ...
Minutes after Defrin finished his press conference, Defense Minister Israel Katz posted that Hezbollah Chief Naim Qassem is now in the IDF's crosshairs.
Defrin said that the IDF had already killed several top Hezbollah commanders, including in Beirut, and struck dozens of other Hezbollah positions.
Last time Hezbollah started a war with Israel, the group ended up losing Syria, access to Iran, and had to beg the US to pull their chestnuts out of the fire. At that time, Donald Trump wanted to get truces in place to see if diplomacy could work. Trump will be much less inclined to offer terms to Hezbollah or Lebanon, and now we have the USS Gerald Ford carrier task group off of Haifa. Those ships can multi-task, too.
Qassem's days are likely numbered at this point. Of course, if the regime in Tehran falls, that would have been true anyway, so in that sense, Qassem may feel he has nothing left to lose. That, too, may be a very bad decision.
Update: Hezbollah has already lost its current intel chief, who replaced the intel chief that Israel killed in the previous war that Hezbollah thought it could win:
JUST IN 🔴
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) March 2, 2026
IDF officially confirms it eliminated Hussein Maqlad, head of Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters, in an overnight strike in Beirut.
Maqlad was appointed after his predecessor Hussein Ali Hazima was killed alongside Hashem Safi al-Din during Operation Northern… pic.twitter.com/jgwQpQOGB8
Qassem's decision has renewed determination in Lebanon's government to put an end to Hezbollah's activities, too:
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Lebanon will ban Hezbollah's military activities after Israel said it struck Hezbollah-linked sites in response to the group's missile and drone attacks following the reported killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In a statement after a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the state rejected any military actions launched from Lebanese territory "outside the framework of its legitimate institutions and affirmed that the decision of war and peace is exclusively in its hands".
This "necessitates the immediate prohibition of all Hezbollah’s security and military activities as being outside the law, and obliging it to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state", he said.
Salam has tried to enforce the terms of the cease-fire, with little effect, thanks to the weakness of Lebanon's legitimate military and security forces. He may need Israel to finally kick Iran's proxy out of Lebanon, and/or American assistance, with the Ford group handy.
The strikes on Beirut continue. This video shows two hits in the Dahiya suburb that Hezbollah controls. For now.
BIG strikes in Lebanon hitting Hezbollah positions pic.twitter.com/O4fhOJ055c
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) March 2, 2026
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