JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In the wake of Hezbollah missiles and UAVs fired towards Israel on Sunday night, the IAF responded forcefully, attacking Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut and in approximately 30 towns in southern Lebanon. Lebanese reports indicate 31 fatalities and 150 wounded.

Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese parliament and a deputy of Secretary-General Naim Qassem, is among at least ten people killed in the Israeli airstrikes on the Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s south Beirut central command, according to the Saudi-based Al-Arabiye.

The IDF has confirmed striking Hezbollah targets across Lebanon following the Iran-backed group’s rocket attack on northern Israel, which came in response to the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran on Saturday.

Hezbollah had not attacked Israel since the two sides’ November 2024 ceasefire agreement.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, whose government seeks to disarm Hezbollah, slammed the rocket attack on Israel. Without naming Hezbollah, Aoun said that the attack undermines Beirut’s efforts to keep Lebanon outside of a regional war.

“While we condemn the Israeli aggression against Lebanon, we warn the persisting in using Lebanon as a platform for proxy wars puts our country in danger,” Aoun said in a statement.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that, “The Hezbollah terrorist organization will pay a heavy price for firing toward Israel, and Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, who decided on the launch under Iranian pressure, is now a marked target for elimination. Whoever follows in Khamenei’s path will soon find himself alongside him in the depths of hell with the rest of the eliminated members of the axis of evil. We will not return to the rules of engagement that existed before October 7 and will defend the residents of the north and all citizens of the State of Israel with full force.”

Katz added, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed the IDF to act forcefully against Hezbollah, while continuing to carry out the primary objective: crushing and defeating the Iranian terrorist regime and neutralizing its capabilities in Operation Roaring Lion, in order to remove the threats over the State of Israel and enable the citizens of Iran to rise up against it and overthrow it.”

Israel is preparing to expand the campaign in Lebanon, including the possibility of a ground incursion, an Israeli security source told the Saudi channel Al-Hadath.