JERUSALEM: In an overnight escalation, Hezbollah, a militant group backed by Iran, launched approximately 200 missiles and drones targeting Israel. Described by Israeli media as a coordinated assault by Hezbollah and Iran, this aggressive move has heightened tensions in the region.

The Israeli Defense Forces responded with robust airstrikes aimed at Hezbollah positions located in the suburbs of Beirut. This retaliation underscores the volatile nature of the ongoing conflict.

The IDF issued a strong statement, asserting, “The IDF is resolutely confronting the Hezbollah terrorist organization after their calculated attack on Israel, executed on behalf of the Iranian regime. We are committed to protecting Israeli civilians and will aggressively counter any threats to our nation.”

Hezbollah has dubbed its latest offensive “Eaten Straw,” claiming to have struck Israeli military installations near Tel Aviv among other targets.

In southern Lebanon, Hezbollah supporters gathered to honor Ismail Baz and Mohamad Hussein Shohury, who died in an Israeli strike on their vehicles. The mourners waved the group’s yellow flags during the funeral in Shehabiya on April 17, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)

Matthew Levitt, a prominent Hezbollah expert from the Washington Institute, explained to Fox News the origin of “Eaten Straw.” He noted, “The term is derived from a Koranic verse illustrating utter destruction, likening foes to chaff. This rhetoric suggests a significant Israeli counteroffensive is imminent.”

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.”

A fireball rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight March 10 to 11, 2026. (Fadel itani / AFP via Getty Images)

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.

A woman uses a mobile phone as she lies on a mattress in a railway station used as an underground bomb shelter in Tel Aviv on March 10, 2026. (Olympia De Maismont/AFP via Getty Images)

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.”