Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem to tread carefully Friday after the latter said his terror group would “act as we see fit” in the war between Israel and Iran.

“The Hezbollah leader hasn’t learned from his predecessors and is threatening to act against Israel,” said Katz, referring to former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel last September.

“I suggest that the Lebanese proxy be careful, and understand that Israel has lost patience with the terrorists who threaten it,” Katz added, warning: “If there is terror — there will be no Hezbollah.”

On June 13, Israel launched a campaign of airstrikes in Iran to decimate the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which Jerusalem characterized as an imminent, existential threat.

Iran has responded with deadly barrages of ballistic missiles at civilian population centers and military targets in Israel.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed proxy, has largely stayed out of the fray in the recent conflict.

The group was severely weakened by last year’s fighting with Israel and remains under the tight watch of the Lebanese government, which issued a warning to the group not to involve Lebanon in the war.

But Qassem said Thursday that the Iran-backed proxy is “not neutral” in the conflict between the two regional superpowers, saying that the group would “act as we see fit in the face of this brutal Israeli-American aggression.”

The remarks came after US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack warned Hezbollah against getting involved in the war, saying it would be a “very bad decision.”

Since a ceasefire agreement went into effect in Lebanon in November 2024, Israel has continued to launch targeted strikes on Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure, claiming violations of the truce by the terrorist organization.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, over 180 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in Israeli strikes since the deal was reached.

The military has continued to attack Hezbollah targets in drone strikes on southern Lebanon since the fighting with Iran broke out.

The IDF announced Thursday morning it had killed Yassin Izz a-Din, commander of Hezbollah’s rocket artillery unit in the Litani River sector, in a strike on Barish, in southern Lebanon, the night before.

The IDF said he had advanced numerous rocket attacks on northern Israel during the war, and was involved in “attempts to restore Hezbollah’s artillery forces.”

Northeast of Harish that same night, in Nabatieh, the IDF said it killed Mohammad Ahmad Khreiss, who it said was the commander of Hezbollah’s anti-tank unit in the Shebaa area.

“During the war, the terrorist advanced numerous attacks against the State of Israel,” including an anti-tank missile attack on Mount Dov on April 26, 2024, which killed Sharif Sawaed, an IDF civilian contractor, the military said.

The IDF on Thursday killed a third Hezbollah operative in a strike, saying he had been involved in efforts to restore the terror group’s infrastructure in the Houla area.