Displaced families take refuge in downtown Beirut following Israeli strikes against Lebanon, on March 2, 2026. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Political condemnations poured in Monday morning after a night marked by massive Israeli strikes across the country, in response to earlier attacks by Hezbollah.
Several political leaders denounced the attacks launched by the party, with some even calling for its dissolution.
On the third day of the U.S.-Israeli offensive against Iran, Hezbollah launched “a volley of missiles and a swarm of drones” toward Israel in response to the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday in Tehran.
The Israeli army then launched powerful airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, the Bekaa and south Lebanon.
Residents of more than 50 villages in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa were also urged to evacuate their homes immediately. Attacks killed over people and injured at least 150 others, according to the Health Ministry.
President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam both condemned the rocket fire by the party. “We will not allow the country to be dragged into new adventures and will take all necessary measures to stop those responsible and protect the Lebanese people,” Salam said.
He chaired an emergency Cabinet meeting at 8 a.m., in which the government ruled for a 'total ban on any military activity' by Hezbollah.
Aoun, for his part, warned that using Lebanon as a “platform for support wars” would once again expose the country to danger.
“Responsibility for these risks lies with the parties that ignored repeated calls to preserve security and stability in the country,” he added. “The state will not allow this to happen again, and the Lebanese people, who are still tending to the wounds caused by previous confrontations, will not accept it.”
Calls to dissolve Hezbollah
The Lebanese Forces also swiftly condemned the developments. Their leader, Samir Geagea, said that “the current situation is neither surprising nor strange, given the nature of Hezbollah and its central role within the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“You have decided to commit suicide — that is your choice. It is our duty to prevent you from blowing yourselves up among our people. Zero tolerance. Whatever the cost,” wrote Baabda MP Pierre Bou Assi on X. Lebanese Forces MP Razi Hajj called for “dissolving the Hezbollah militia and bringing its leaders to justice.”
Reacting to Hezbollah’s actions and the Israeli reprisals, Samy Gemayel, leader of the Kataeb Party, urged the government to “take crucial decisions.”
“Enough empty words! Crucial decisions must be made. Look at the destruction, the roads crowded with displaced families and children (…) Is there any authority in the world that would accept a band of mercenaries controlling the fate of a nation and annihilating the future of an entire people in the service of a declining foreign dictatorship?” he wrote on X.
“This is the declaration the Lebanese people were waiting for from the government,” Kataeb MP Nadim Gemayel said, after Justice Minister Adel Nassar initiated contacts with Prosecutor General Jamal Hajjar and the government commissioner at the Military Court to order the arrest of those who launched the rockets and those who ordered the attacks.
“Dragging Lebanon into regional conflicts is sheer madness. Lebanon can no longer endure new adventures or further human sacrifices. What crime did those who fled their homes in the middle of the night commit, to live in anxiety, uprooted and insecure?” wrote MP Farid Haykal el-Khazen, who is close to the Marada movement.
Independent MP Nehmat Frem denounced “a rebellion against the Constitution and institutions, a coup against sovereignty and a violation of the Lebanese people’s right to the protection of their interests.”
“The state must reassert its authority against those who have prioritized Iran’s interests over Lebanon’s, as well as its exclusive monopoly over sovereignty,” he said.
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said that “Hezbollah’s missile fire from Lebanese territory constitutes an irresponsible act that has exposed the lives of the Lebanese to grave danger and dragged Lebanon into the ongoing war between the United States, Israel and Iran, without any regard for the interests of the state or the people.”
Hezbollah confirmed it had launched an attack on Israel, its first since the start of the large-scale U.S.-Israeli offensive against Iran that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and other senior officials.
Israel and Hezbollah's cease-fire came into effect on Nov. 27, 2024, after the party had opened a support front against the war in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023. Israel continues to attack Lebanon daily and occupies at least five positions in the South.
During Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran in June 2025, Hezbollah did not intervene.
An international conference in support of the Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces — tasked with disarming Hezbollah — had been scheduled for March 5 in Paris. Aoun and French President Emmanuel Macron announced Sunday that the conference would be postponed.
