Lebanon bans Hezbollah's 'illegal' military activities after strikes

The Lebanese government has banned Hezbollah's military activities hours after Israel launched a wave of attacks on the country in retaliation to missiles launched by the militant group on northern Israel.

Hezbollah rocket fire in the early hours of Monday led to a wave of Israeli strikes on Shia-majority areas in southern Lebanon, Beirut's southern suburbs, and parts of the eastern Beqaa region, which have killed 52 people and wounded over 150 others so far according to the health ministry. The strikes have resulted in widespread damage in the targeted areas.

Hezbollah's rocket attack on northern Israel came in response to the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran is the Shia movement's key ally.

Israel vowed a "very harsh response" to the strikes, and had warned Hezbollah against joining the war alongside Iran. The military issued evacuation warnings for scores of towns and villages in Shia-majority areas, and said it will strike Al-Qard al-Hassan, a blacklisted, Hezbollah-linked financial institution.

Later on Monday, it said it hit more than 70 Hezbollah targets including weapons storage facilities, launch sites, and missile launchers.

Israel has also warned that Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem is a "target for elimination".

Some media reports had claimed that senior Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad was killed in the strikes. However, the official released a statement later on Monday criticising the government's decision to ban his party's armed wing.

The Israeli military did announce the killing of Hezbollah's intelligence chief, Hussein Muqalled.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad's armed wing said on Monday that its commander in Lebanon was killed in Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs. The PIJ is an ally of both Hamas and Hezbollah.

In a statement, the Quds Brigades said Adham Adnan al-Othman, the head of the armed wing in Lebanon, was killed "as a result of the treacherous Zionist aggression that targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, at dawn on Monday".

Major roads leaving southern Lebanon and south of Beirut were clogged with thousands of vehicles as people tried to reach relative safety.

Dozens of schools in Beirut, Mount Lebanon, Sidon and other safer parts of southern Lebanon have opened to receive displaced people. The Education Ministry shared a list of schools welcoming the displaced.

Hezbollah acts 'illegal'

Following a government session on Monday headed by President Joseph Aoun, Salam said Hezbollah's military activities are "illegal acts" and demanded the Shia militant group hand over its weapons, and called on authorities to detain those behind the missile launch.

It was the harshest stance the Lebanese government has taken yet toward Hezbollah, a militant group that once enjoyed political dominance. 

Beirut had repeatedly warned Hezbollah against interfering in the US-Israel war on Iran, saying such a decision would be devastating for Lebanon still reeling under the 2024 Hezbollah-Israel conflict, and stressing that such matters were up to the state.

In a statement shared on X, Aoun said that rocket fire from Lebanese territory jeopardises the government’s efforts to keep the country out of the escalating regional conflict, warning that Lebanon must not be used as a platform for wars unrelated to its national interest.

While condemning Israeli attacks, he stressed that those who ignore calls to preserve security and stability would bear responsibility for any consequences, adding that the state and the Lebanese people would not accept a return to renewed instability.

Beirut has pushed forward with disarming Hezbollah and announced that south of the Litani River had been cleared of the group's arms, but critics have said progress was sluggish.

Israel has continued to strike Lebanon despite the November 2024 ceasefire, vowing to keep Hezbollah weakened and claiming the group was still rearming despite Lebanese government efforts.

Hezbollah had warned that it would join the war alongside Iran if Khamenei was killed, despite repeated warnings from the Lebanese government.

But Hezbollah was left significantly weakened after its war with Israel in 2024 and has continued to come under fire by Israeli forces despite a ceasefire deal, which has been effectively shattered.

Much of the group’s leadership has been eliminated, including former leader and figurehead Hassan Nasrallah and to-be-successor Hashem Safieddine.

Despite losing a large part of its arsenal, the group is still believed to be in possession of ballistic missiles and drones.

After weeks of failed negotiations over the Islamic republic’s nuclear and missile programmes, the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Saturday, and Tehran has retaliated by striking Israel and the Arab Gulf, effectively dragging the entire region into conflict.

Cities like Kuwait, Manama, Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as Saudi Arabia, having come under repeated fire.

Iran claims it is targeting US interests across the Gulf, which have strongly condemned the attacks, while the UAE has shut its embassy in Tehran on Sunday, and Saudi Arabia had summoned Iran’s ambassador to Riyadh.