Katz warns Israel will target Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem

By Emanuel Fabian

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

2 March 2026, 10:23 am

Edit

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Supporters watch a televised speech by Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem during a rally to show their solidarity with Iran, in the southern suburb of Beirut on January 26, 2026. (Anwar AMRO / AFP)

Defense Minister Israel Katz says Hezbollah secretary general Naim Qassem is a target, after the terror group fired rockets and drones at Israel overnight.

“The Hezbollah terror organization will pay a heavy price for the firing toward Israel, and Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s secretary general, who decided on the firing under pressure from Iran, from now on, he is a marked target for elimination,” Katz says on X.

He says that whoever “follows the path” of Iran’s former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by Israel on Saturday, “will soon find himself together with him in the depths of hell with all those eliminated from the axis of evil.”