Extremist Israeli ministers have said that Lebanon should "burn" after four Israeli soldiers were killed in combat with Hezbollah, as Israel’s deadly offensive continues despite the US-Iran agreement explicitly calling for a ceasefire.
National Security Minister Ben Gvir said Friday that "all of Lebanon must burn" after the Israeli military confirmed the deaths of four soldiers in a Hezbollah attack.
"With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not up for bargaining. All of Lebanon must burn," Ben Gvir said in a statement, after a rare rebuke from US President Donald Trump over Israel's conduct.
"I tell the prime minister, even in our meetings, that for every tear shed by an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers should cry. Enough with this game of ping-pong," he added.
"In the Middle East, we don't prevail through measured responses or restraint. We must go crazy, we must wipe out everything, and we must decisively crush terrorism."
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another fanatic, said it was a "tough morning" for Israel after the announcement of the four soldiers killed.
"Time to speak with fire. To open the gates of hell," he wrote on X.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later warned Hezbollah would "pay an extremely heavy price."
The Israeli military said a tank battalion commander and three soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah attack in southern Lebanon overnight.
During the incident shortly after midnight, a suspected drone or anti-tank missile struck the battalion commander’s tank in the village of Kfar Tebnit, the Israelis said, adding that the exact cause of the explosion is under investigation.
The commander of the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion was identified as Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon. He had replaced a previous commander who was severely wounded in south Lebanon in April.
In another statement on Friday, the Israeli military said it attacked more than 80 Hezbollah command centres, rocket launchers and other infrastructure. Heavy strikes left widespread destruction in the city of Nabatieh and surrounding towns and villages.
As of 1400 GMT, the Lebanese Health Ministry said 47 people had been killed and 97 wounded in the Israeli assault since midnight local time.
Far from the border and deep inside eastern Lebanon, the Israeli military also struck the town of Douris on the outskirts of Baalbek, with at least three reported killed.
Despite the deadly overnight attacks, UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said the UN peacekeeping mission had recorded a sharp drop in hostilities overall over the past three days, with Israeli airspace violations falling from 83 on Sunday to 38 on Monday, 32 on Tuesday and 38 on Wednesday.
Projectile trajectories also dropped from 705 on Sunday to 169, 185 and 330 over the following three days, with the vast majority originating from the Israeli army.
Calling it a serious violation, he added that Israeli forces remain present in more than 50 villages within UNIFIL's area of operations in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army on Thursday shared an updated map of its security zone . War 'will not end soon' Retired Lebanese Army Brig. Gen. Bassam Yassine told The New Arab that Hezbollah believes it remains entitled to respond militarily as long as Israeli forces continue to occupy Lebanese territory.
"The US ambassador to Israel says that once Hezbollah stops firing, the ceasefire will hold. But Israeli forces were advancing towards the Ali al-Taher ridge. Hezbollah has the right, at the very least, to defend itself," the former officer told TNA , referring to a strategic area inside southern Lebanon that overlooks Nabatieh, which Israeli troops have been trying to capture.
Yassine said Hezbollah had so far limited its attacks to Israeli forces operating in south Lebanon, despite Israel's continued violations.
"Hezbollah is still committed to not striking inside Israel, even though, if I were in its place, I would strike Israeli territory because Israel is attacking my land. Striking Israeli territory is not prohibited. On the contrary, it is legitimate and it has that right," he said.
Yassine said he did not expect the fighting to end soon, arguing that Washington had yet to exert sufficient pressure on Israel. He maintained that any lasting ceasefire would require a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
"No one should think Israel can remain on even one centimetre of Lebanese land. As long as it does, there will continue to be military operations." The memorandum of understanding signed between the US and Iran earlier this week, which will pave the way for 60 days of talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme and other issues to completely end the war, explicitly talks about a ceasefire in Lebanon.
While the MoU does not exactly set a timeframe for an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon or Hezbollah’s disarmament, it does clearly call for a cessation of hostilities between the warring sides.
Israel has refused to leave Lebanon without Hezbollah disarming, and the Iran-backed militant group refuses to discuss its arms without an end to Israeli occupation and attacks.
Since the current round of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel began on 2 March, Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,900 people in Lebanon.