The Israeli military in recent weeks has stepped up airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, with assessments indicating that the Iran-backed terror group may join Tehran in a new conflict against Israel.

Strikes carried out by the Israeli Air Force on Friday night targeted three Hezbollah command centers belonging to the terror group’s missile force in eastern Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, killing eight terror operatives, including a top commander.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that Hezbollah’s missile force had recently been working to improve its ability to launch rockets at Israel.

The strikes, according to military sources, were intended to degrade Hezbollah’s rocket and missile capabilities in case the group should try to resume hostilities.

With tensions between Washington and Tehran threatening to bring war back to the region, the military has identified preparations by Hezbollah — particularly by its rocket and missile forces — to strike Israel if the US military attacks Iran, the sources said.

According to Israeli assessments, Iran has recently been pressuring Hezbollah to fight alongside it in the event of a war with Israel. During the 12-day war with Iran in June, Hezbollah secretary general Naim Qassem received several requests — not orders — from Iran to join the conflict, but declined, according to IDF officials.

In the event of a conflict between the US and Iran, Tehran can be expected to activate its proxy forces arrayed around the region against Israel, including Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and militias in Iraq, according to the recent Israeli assessments. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would also launch attacks.

Hezbollah is widely considered to be Iran’s most prized proxy, built up over decades as a strategic deterrent for Tehran situated on Israel’s northern border, and ties between the terror group and the Islamic Republic are thought to go deeper than the handsome funding Iran provides.

The refusal in June showed that Hezbollah had managed to carve out some measure of independence and the military previously assessed that Hezbollah was less likely to act against Israel, instead being focused on trying to restore its capabilities following the 2024 war.

However, with Iranian pressure and around a billion dollars in funding handed over in the past year, the Israeli defense establishment now assesses that Hezbollah could join Iran in a new conflict against Israel.

There are also signs that Tehran is now exerting greater control over its proxy. On Saturday, Saudi outlet Al-Arabiya reported that IRGC officers have effectively taken charge of Hezbollah in anticipation of a war with the US and Israel.

The IRGC officers, some of whom recently arrived in Lebanon from Iran, were tasked with rebuilding Hezbollah’s military capabilities, Al-Arabiya said, citing sources close to Hezbollah.

The Iranian officers have also been personally briefing Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon, said the unnamed sources cited by Al-Arabiya.

They added that IRGC officers were meeting with members of Hezbollah’s missile unit at a site in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley that was bombed by Israel on Friday.

Israel has consistently targeted what it says are Hezbollah attempts to rebuild its force following a November 2024 ceasefire that ended a year of conflict between Israel and the terror group.

Such strikes have been carried out on a near-daily basis, with the IDF saying it has killed over 400 Hezbollah operatives and members of allied terror groups in that time.

However, Friday night’s strike against the Hezbollah missile force operatives was among the deadliest since the start of the ceasefire.

The IDF said the strike “eliminated a large number of operatives belonging to the missile array of the Hezbollah terror organization,” and the terror group confirmed the deaths of eight operatives, including a senior officer.

Hezbollah identified one of the operatives, Hussein Mohammed Yaghi, as a “commander,” indicating he was a senior official in the terror group. Hezbollah rarely refers to its operatives slain in Israeli strikes as commanders, saving the designation only for a handful of senior officers in the terror group killed by the IDF.

There has been no indication from Iran or Hezbollah that any of those killed were members of the IRGC.

Friday’s strike comes after a series of other Israeli attacks in Lebanon in recent weeks, including raids on weapon depots, missile launchers, and other military sites belonging to the terror group on Thursday, on February 15, and on February 5; and the elimination of at least eight other Hezbollah operatives, two Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives and two Hamas members since the start of the month.

The Iran-backed group is considered by the IDF to have been heavily degraded, mostly as a result of the two months of open warfare between September and November 2024, but also from the near-daily Israeli strikes after the ceasefire took effect.

According to Israel, 70-80% of the group’s rocket fire capabilities have been destroyed.

However, the terror group is still believed by the military to be a potent force, with its rocket and missile capabilities especially concerning.

The IDF has estimated that Hezbollah still possesses several thousand rockets — the vast majority of them short-range projectiles like mortars. Most of Hezbollah’s weapons are located in areas north of the Litani River, the army says, after the military destroyed the terror group’s infrastructure closer to the border, meaning they are too far away to threaten Israel.

But the group still has several hundred medium- and long-range missiles that can reach deep into Israel, according to the military.

Therefore, the IDF has been operating to thwart any attempt by Hezbollah to build up its capabilities in all areas of Lebanon, not just in the south.

Since January, the IDF has been on high alert and has carried out various preparations over concerns that Tehran or its proxies could attack in response to US military strikes on Iran, which US President Donald Trump has threatened to carry out.

Preparations have largely focused on the military’s air defense array, attack plans, intelligence, and the Home Front Command, according to the IDF.

In recent weeks, Trump has amassed military forces in the region and repeatedly threatened to use them against Iran, first over the Islamic Republic’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters last month and more recently over its nuclear program.

Israeli leaders have said the country will launch strikes on Iran should it be targeted by Iran in response to American actions.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Thursday said the military’s “eyes are open in every direction, and our finger is tighter on the trigger than ever.”

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IDF Israel Defense Forces

2023-2024 Israel-Hezbollah conflict

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