Israel’s DM Katz warns: ‘Hezbollah plays with fire & Lebanon’s president is dragging his feet’

Defense Minister Israel Katz issued yet another strident warning to Israel’s northern neighbor, Lebanon, as the process of disarming Hezbollah appears to be stalling while the terror group ramps up efforts to rearm.

“Hezbollah is playing with fire and the President of Lebanon is dragging his feet,” Katz warned on Sunday, after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted a series of targeted eliminations of terror leaders over the past days.

“The commitment of the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah and remove it from southern Lebanon must be realized. Enforcement of the maximum will continue and even intensify – we will not allow a threat to the residents of the north,” Katz added.

In the past few weeks, Israeli and U.S. officials increased their warnings that Hezbollah was intensifying its efforts to restore its military capabilities through smuggling and local manufacture of weapons.

Meanwhile, the government of President Joseph Aoun refuses to order its military to disarm Hezbollah, instead demanding an end to Israel’s military presence and strikes in the country.

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed, “We expect the Lebanese government to uphold its commitments, namely to disarm Hezbollah.”

“But it is clear that we will exercise our right to self-defense as stipulated in the ceasefire terms. We will not allow Lebanon to become a renewed front against us, and we will act as necessary.”

On Saturday, the IDF killed a logistics support officer of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force in southern Lebanon, who it said was involved in weapons transfers and in efforts to restore the group’s terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

Three other Radwan operatives were eliminated during the strike. The day before, another Radwan terrorist was killed near Nabatiyeh, while a Hezbollah maintenance officer was struck in the Kounine area.

All were involved in efforts to restore Hezbollah’s capabilities, after Israel significantly degraded its weapon stockpiles, infrastructure and leadership in a short but intense war last year.

The White House’s special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrak, has been leading the Trump administration’s campaign to pressure and support the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah, while offering to help rebuild the ravaged country in return.

“They’re trying, but they’re dinosaurs,” Barrack said Saturday during a security conference in Bahrain. Israel’s strikes there continue “because Hezbollah still possesses “thousands of rockets and missiles that are threatening it,” he added.

A report by the Saudi Al-Hadath channel quoted an Israeli source that warned that a return to active fighting against Hezbollah is a possibility, as the group has successfully smuggled hundreds of short-range rockets to Lebanon from Syria.

The source said that Israel informed the U.S. it will respond forcefully and strike in Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold, the Dahiyeh, if the organization is not disarmed.

He also emphasized that Israel would not withdraw from the five outposts it still holds in southern Lebanon any time soon, nor will it allow the reconstruction of the border villages in the area, some of which effectively served as Hezbollah battle compounds.