Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to the people of Lebanon to "take action against the pro-Iran armed faction Hezbollah." Analysts said the move appears intended to make clear that Israel's military operation targets not Lebanese civilians but the terrorist group holding the country hostage. Experts analyzed that a strategic aim is embedded to separate Hezbollah from ordinary Lebanese, shake internal cohesion, and narrow the armed group's political footing.
According to a compilation of reports by major outlets including France 24 on the 10th (local time), Netanyahu released a video message to the people of Lebanon that day, saying, "Israel is not at war with you." He emphasized, "We are at war with Hezbollah, which is holding your homeland hostage, taking orders from Iran, and using your territory for terror against Israel." Arabic subtitles were provided with the video so that Israel's message could be delivered in full.
Netanyahu went on to say that "Hezbollah's military capability has been sharply degraded," raising the need to build peace. He explained, "The Israel Defense Forces have eliminated about 10,000 Hezbollah fighters and are systematically clearing them from across southern Lebanon." Expressing a longing for peace in which the two peoples can prosper together, he said, "Seize the future. Join Israel. Once Hezbollah is dismantled, the possibilities will be limitless and reach the ends of the sky." The same day, Israeli President Itzhak Herzog also sent a message in Arabic to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, expressing a will to establish peace between the two countries on the premise of containing Hezbollah's influence.
Diplomatic and military confrontation between the United States and Iran over hegemony in the Middle East is also unfolding more steeply. U.S. President Donald Trump publicly warned that he would strike "forcefully" if a Middle East peace accord is not reached. In response, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian shot back that Iran would "stand firm" against U.S. pressure and would not back down. In the ongoing cease-fire talks with the United States, Iran is demanding that a halt to clashes between Israel and Hezbollah be included as a condition of the accord and is using it as leverage in negotiations.
A full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah began in March when Hezbollah launched a sudden attack on Israel to aid Iran. Israel responded hard-line by bombing Hezbollah military facilities across Lebanon and deploying large ground forces in the south under the banner of eliminating security threats. In the process, the death toll exceeded 3,000 and more than 1 million refugees were displaced, deepening the humanitarian crisis. Recently, after Israel bombed Hezbollah's headquarters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Iran, for the first time since the cease-fire took effect on Apr. 8, launched about 30 ballistic missiles at Israeli territory in a show of forceful retaliation. Israel likewise immediately deployed fighter jets to restrike Iran's key air defenses and petrochemical complexes, creating a vicious cycle of tit-for-tat reprisals.