Israel hits back after coordinated Iran-Hezbollah missile, drone strikes, urges Beirut to rein in terrorists

JERUSALEM: Iran proxy Hezbollah fired some 200 missiles and drones into the Jewish state overnight and into Thursday in what Israeli media described as an "integrated Hezbollah and Iran joint attack."

The attacks prompted fierce retaliatory strikes from the Israeli Defense Forces into Hezbollah strongholds in the Beirut suburbs.

The Israel Defense Forces said, "The IDF is operating with determination against the Hezbollah terrorist organization following its deliberate decision to attack Israel on behalf of the Iranian regime. The IDF will not tolerate any harm to Israeli civilians and will forcibly respond against any threat posed to the State of Israel."

Calling its new operation "Eaten Straw," the terror group claimed to have targeted Israeli military sites in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, among other targets.

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Matthew Levitt, a leading scholar on Hezbollah from the Washington Institute, told Fox News about Eaten Straw. "The term comes from a Koran verse about destroying one’s enemies to the point that they are destroyed like grains of straw husks. In fact, it is going to lead to a massive Israel response."

Just days prior to Wednesday’s attacks, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun charged Hezbollah with pushing Lebanon into becoming  "a second Gaza."

An Israeli security expert from the Israel Alma Research and Education Center, Sarit Zehavi, told Fox News Digital, that "I think that Hezbollah is trying to scare Israel from launching further operations and I truly hope that we will not be afraid, and our government will do what it has to do."

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The Lebanese armed forces also failed to meet President Trump’s deadline to disarm Hezbollah terrorist organization in 2025. 

The Lebanese government announced on Tuesday that it is interested in direct talks with Israel to end the current conflict with Hezbollah, yet one Israeli official claimed Beirut was not "affecting Hezbollah’s behavior in any way," the Times of Israel cited a report from news site Y-Net reported.

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon, speaking Wednesday, told members of the United Nations Security Council in New York that, "Lebanon now faces two options: either the Lebanese government takes real actions and restrains Hezbollah, or Israel uses its force to dismantle this terrorist organization. There is no other option."

Edy Cohen, a Lebanese-born Israeli scholar of Hezbollah, dismissed the Lebanese government overtures to Israel as political theater. He referenced the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah that concluded with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, requiring the Lebanese state and army to disarm Hezbollah, as a failed effort.

Cohen told Fox News Digital: "I don’t believe the Lebanese government. It is a game between them and Hezbollah. The Lebanese offered, for the first time since 1982, it would agree to dialogue with Israel. The first condition is a ceasefire. Hezbollah told the Lebanese government give the Israelis this offer. Hezbollah wants to stop this war. And that is how the government of Lebanon jokes about us."

Speaking during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Lebanese Ambassador Ahmad Arafa told the council, "The Lebanese people do not want war, and the Lebanese government is moving forward in implementing its decisions and will not backtrack," The National reported. 

According to the National report, Arafa said, "In our modern history, no Lebanese government has demonstrated this level of courage and determination to reclaim the state authority, to restrict weapons to legitimate state institutions and to extend the state's control exclusively through its own forces over all Lebanese territory."

An Israeli official told the Times of Israel that "The Lebanese government needs to get a grip on their country or Hezbollah parts of Beirut will soon look like Gaza."