Israel Refuses Iran’s Demand To End Striking Hezbollah

While the Islamic Republic claims it considers strikes on its Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon like an attack on Iran, Jerusalem struck Hezbollah targets Monday morning after a calm that capped the preceding 24-hour exchange of fire between Israel and Iran.“In the last 24 hours Iran and Hezbollah attempted to force on us a new equation, which is unacceptable,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Hebrew language televised address Monday. “They thought they could shoot at Israel from Lebanese territory and from Iran, and that we wouldn’t react. It didn’t happen and won’t happen.”After President Trump publicly urged Jerusalem and Tehran to end their skirmish, both the Israeli and Iranian militaries announced an end to the fire exchange. The Islamic Republic, though, claimed it would resume attacks if Israel continued to hit Iran’s top proxy, Hezbollah. The Israel Defense Forces followed that statement by hitting targets of the terror organization in southern Lebanon. Israel insists on its right to self defense, Mr. Netanyahu said, adding, “I’m telling this to you, dear citizens, just as I also say it to my dear friend, President Trump.” Mr. Trump, though, pressured Mr. Netanyahu to end the fire exchanges. “Both sides, Israel and Iran, are looking to do an immediate ceasefire,” he wrote on TruthSocial, equating the Tehran regime to America’s ally. As Iran and Israel exchanged fire Sunday night, Jerualem’s finance minister, Betzalel Smotrich, proposed that rather than Iran, Israel should hit Hezbollah hard. Answering every Iranian missile launched at Israel, Mr. Smotrich told Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet, the IDF must “flatten” up to 30 buildings at Beirut’s Hezbollah stronghold, the Dahiyeh district. Mr. Smotrich, the security cabinet’s most hawkish member, challenges the Islamic Republic’s attempt at linking together the Iranian and Lebanese arenas. At least one centrist opposition politician, Benny Gantz, expressed sympathy with Mr. Smotrich’s idea. Following exchanges on Sunday night and Monday morning, Tehran’s armed forces announced the suspension of missile strikes against Israel. It clarified, though, that if Israel’s “aggression and hostile actions continue, including in southern Lebanon, much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow.” The IDF announced that per President Trump’s request, Israel too would stop hitting Iran. Even after the Tehran warning, though, Israeli jets struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. Jets hit targets north of the so-called “yellow line,” a slice of Lebanon Israel occupied after Hezbollah launched attacks on northern Israel on March 2. Israeli officials made clear that other areas are not off limits either. Over the weekend IDF jets struck targets at the Dahyeh, Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold. Iran, in what appeared to be a surprise attack, followed by launching a barrage of missiles at Israel. No damage was reported in Israel. The Houthis also launched two ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv, which were intercepted.President Trump told several Washington reporters on Sunday night that he would instruct Mr. Netanyahu to avoid retaliation. “I call all the shots,” the president told the Financial Times. Mr. Netanyahu “doesn’t call the shots.” Such statements might have been merely a “good cop-bad cop” strategy, worked out in a phone call between the American and Israeli leaders. Either way, the IDF retaliation was necessarily coordinated with the U.S. Central Command. Overnight Israeli jets struck targets in western and southern Iran, including air defenses that were reclaimed since their destruction during Operation Epic Fury. Destroying these defenses again could make it easier for Israeli jets to conduct future attacks on Iranian strategic targets. Additionally, in a likely hint that Israel could hit Iranian infrastructure, IDF jets struck a petrochemical plant at Mahshahr and targeted the hub of all Iranian oil exports, Kharg island.While Iran’s strikes created no discernible damage in Israel, the IDF apparently successfully hit all its intended targets. At the same time, though, Jerusalem is yet to conclusively erase the Iran-Lebanon equation.

Israel Refuses Iran’s Demand To End Striking Hezbollah

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