Israel's war minister threatens full-scale attack on Lebanon, demands Hezbollah disarmament
Iran Press TV
Thursday, 27 November 2025 5:35 PM
Israel's war minister, Israel Katz, has warned that Tel Aviv is prepared to launch a new war on Lebanon if the Hezbollah resistance movement does not surrender its weapons by the end of 2025.
Addressing Israel's Knesset, Katz claimed that Washington had given Beirut a deadline to disarm Hezbollah by year's end, but said he had no expectation that the group would surrender its weapons.
"I do not believe that Hezbollah will hand over its weapons voluntarily," he told lawmakers. "If Hezbollah does not give up its weapons by the year's end, we will work forcefully again in Lebanon. We will disarm them."
Katz added that the regime would not tolerate what he called threats to settlers living along the Lebanese border.
"We will not allow any threats against the inhabitants of the north, and maximum enforcement will continue and even intensify."
He also threatened an escalation of Israeli strikes on Beirut.
"As we proved a few days ago with the elimination - there will be no calm in Beirut, nor order and stability in Lebanon, until the security of Israel is guaranteed," Katz said, referring to Israel's assassination of Hezbollah commander Haitham Ali al-Tabtabai in Beirut's southern suburbs days earlier.
Over the weekend, Israel killed al-Tabtabai and four other Hezbollah members in an airstrike on Beirut that also injured dozens of civilians, including women and children.
A senior Hezbollah official responded that Israel "should be worried" after the attack, while the Lebanese government is reportedly urging the resistance group not to retaliate.
Meanwhile, Lebanese media reported on Thursday that Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty "delivered a clear threat" to Beirut during his recent visit.
According to Al-Akhbar, Abdelatty warned Lebanese officials that the country is on the brink of facing a massive Israeli bombing campaign and potential ground invasion.
The newspaper said officials were taken aback by the unusually severe tone, noting that the foreign minister made no mention of Egypt's earlier de-escalation plan and instead "appeared to support Israeli demands for disarmament before any agreement."
"There are no limits to the escalation that Israel may resort to," Abdelatty reportedly told Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
"I discussed the matter with Israeli officials, and they informed me that they have decided to launch an attack against Lebanon that would not be limited to an airstrike, but would also include a ground operation and the targeting of hundreds of sites," Abdelatty was quoted as saying.
Israel has sharply escalated its strikes on Lebanon in recent weeks, claiming Hezbollah is rapidly rebuilding its military capabilities. The regime has issued multiple US-backed threats of a broad war on Lebanon.
In August, Hezbollah rejected a Lebanese cabinet decision, taken under intense US pressure that called for the group's full disarmament by the end of this year.
The movement maintains it is willing to discuss a national defensive strategy that would eventually integrate its weapons into the Lebanese army, but insists no talks can take place while Israel continues its attacks and occupies areas in southern Lebanon.
Since the ceasefire was reached in November last year, Israel has killed more than 300 people in Lebanon. Over the past month alone, Israeli attacks have killed more than three dozen people.
Washington, meanwhile, is pressuring the Lebanese state to forcibly disarm Hezbollah, even at the risk of internal conflict, and has publicly backed Israeli threats, warning that Lebanon faces a major assault if the resistance does not surrender its weapons.
Responding to the spiraling tensions, Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah stressed that there is no room for any political dialogue with Israel while it continues to violate the truce.
"No political proposal has yet been presented to Lebanon that can effectively stop the aggression of the occupiers," Fadlallah said, condemning US-led Western interference in Lebanon's internal affairs.
"What foreign and international parties are offering to Lebanon is either aimed at continuing the Zionist killings and aggression's or Lebanon's complete surrender to the enemy."
He added that Hezbollah "will never let Israel and its mercenaries return to the 1982 situation," referring to the Israeli invasion during Lebanon's civil war that saw Beirut besieged and massacres carried out across the country.
Fadlallah stressed that Lebanon "will not be an easy prey" in the face of any new Israeli aggression.
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