ISRAEL PERSPECTIVE

Israel claimed the strike on Beirut's southern suburbs as a precise and necessary operation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz jointly announced that the IDF had been ordered to target Malek Ballout, operations commander of the Radwan force — Hezbollah's elite unit specializing in infiltration operations. According to Israeli intelligence, Ballout was in a Ghobeiri apartment hosting a meeting of Radwan commanders when ten heavy bombs were dropped shortly after 8 p.m. local time. Netanyahu declared in a video: 'No terrorist is immune. Whoever threatens the State of Israel will die by their actions.' Jerusalem notes that Radwan fighters under Ballout's command were directly responsible for attacks on northern Israeli communities and IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon. According to the IDF, 220 Hezbollah terrorists and commanders have been eliminated since the April ceasefire, over 85 in the previous week alone. Jerusalem argues the Beirut strike is not a violation of the ceasefire but its application: the agreement's terms permit Israel to act against any attack that is 'planned, imminent or ongoing.'