The Lebanese government, meeting in an emergency session on Monday morning, issued a decision unprecedented in Lebanon: banning Hezbollah’s military activities, declaring them illegal, and tasking the Lebanese Armed Forces with enforcing the decision in whatever manner they deem appropriate.
The decision came hours after Hezbollah fired rockets at Haifa, in its first military operation since the November 2024 ceasefire—an action through which the group dragged Lebanon into a new war and a major escalation with Israel.
The rockets initially fell in open areas, before the group went on to launch additional barrages that were intercepted by Israeli defenses. In a statement, Hezbollah said the rockets were fired “in revenge” for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.
The move by the Lebanese group—designated as a terrorist organization—immediately ignited a dispute with the Lebanese government, which is seeking to keep Lebanon out of a regional war. It also sparked widespread anger among many Lebanese, including residents of Hezbollah-controlled areas, over being dragged into a devastating war in support of Iran, following the conflict the group launched on October 8, 2023, in support of Hamas in Gaza.
The two ministers named by Hezbollah in the Lebanese government abstained from voting on the decision. Notably, ministers from the Amal Movement—Hezbollah’s historic Shiite ally—voted in favor of it.
The Israeli army responded swiftly to Hezbollah’s rockets with intensive airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, saying the strikes targeted Hezbollah leadership figures. It also issued warnings to residents of more than fifty towns in the south and the Bekaa Valley, urging them to evacuate for their safety ahead of military operations to pursue Hezbollah targets and military installations.
This led to large waves of displacement after midnight from the south, the Bekaa, and Beirut’s southern suburbs. People fled on foot and by car, causing severe congestion as soon as the strikes began, at around 2:40 a.m.
Israeli media reported the killing of Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, in the airstrikes. In addition to his seat in parliament, Raad holds a senior position on Hezbollah’s Shura Council and had been preparing to assume the post of deputy secretary-general. His death has not yet been officially confirmed. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said Israeli strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon killed 31 people.
The article is a translation of the original Arabic.
Rami Al Amine
A Lebanese writer and journalist living in the United States. He holds a master’s degree in Islamic-Christian Relations from the Faculty of Religious Sciences at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. He is the author of the poetry collection “I Am a Great Poet” (Dar Al-Nahda Al-Arabiya, 2007); the political pamphlet “Ya Ali, We Are No Longer the People of the South” (Lebanese Plans, 2008); a book on social media titled “The Facebookers” (Dar Al-Jadeed, 2012); and “The Pakistanis: A Statue’s Biography” (Dar Al-Nahda Al-Arabiya, 2024).
