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Smoke rises from Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon following an Israeli airstrike on May 25. / Photo via Reuters

Bloomberg reported on May 25 that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to intensify airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, even as the United States and Iran actively engage in end-of-war negotiations.

Shortly after Netanyahu issued the directives to scale up military operations, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a barrage of bombardments targeting Hezbollah strongholds and the Beqaa Valley region in eastern Lebanon.

The targeted campaign by the IDF came as a direct retaliation to a series of explosive drone and rocket barrages launched by Hezbollah. In recent weeks, Hezbollah has deployed fiber-optic guided drones—similar to those utilized in the war in Ukraine—to strike Israeli troops stationed in southern Lebanon alongside residential areas across northern Israel.

In response, Prime Minister Netanyahu firmly asserted, "We will continue to strike them. We have established a specialized task force to counter this asset, and we will neutralize this threat in short order."

Hours following Netanyahu's announcement to expand the aerial assault on Lebanon, massive explosions rocked the Strait of Hormuz near the Iranian coastal cities of Sirik and Jask, according to Iran's Fars News Agency. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency also reported that three consecutive explosions were heard further inland in Bandar Abbas.

In a statement released via Telegram, the IDF confirmed it had pounded more than 70 Hezbollah infrastructure assets across Lebanon. The operation successfully targeted ten command centers, weapons depots, and auxiliary military networks that Hezbollah had leveraged to execute strikes against Israeli service members and civilians.

The IDF added that the recent waves of airstrikes effectively eliminated multiple Hezbollah combatants operating in close proximity to Israeli positions in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, cross-border hostilities between Israel and Lebanon have persisted on a near-daily basis, despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement enacted on April 17.

                                                                                                             Park Jin-sook