Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a member of the political-security cabinet, said on Friday that Lebanon would pay a heavy price if war broke out between Israel and the Hezbollah militia.
Bennett's remarks came as the IDF started an operation this past week to destroy Hezbollah's terror tunnels on the northern border.
Bennett warned that Israel would destroy Lebanon should war break out between Hezbollah and the Jewish State."Hezbollah equals Lebanon. We will no longer agree to see Hezbollah as an independent and separate organization from the state of Lebanon, as we did in the Second Lebanon War," Bennett tweeted.
"If heaven forbid, rockets are fired from Lebanon at Israel, it would be seen as an act of war by the sovereign state of Lebanon on the State of Israel, with all that this implies. Anyone who pretends to be a "defender of Lebanon" will become its destroyer.
During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Israel did not target Lebanon directly, reserving the brunt of its military force on Hezbollah directly.
On Monday, Israel embarked on an operation to destroy Hezbollah-dug tunnels snaking under its border with Lebanon.IDF forces have already unearthed one terror tunnel on Tuesday morning since the campaign began.
The tunnel, apparently built by Hezbollah terrorists, originates in the southern portion of the Lebanese town of Kafr Kela. The tunnel crosses over into Israeli territory, however, and is believed to have been dug for use in an upcoming terror attack on Israeli targets.
On Thursday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that Hezbollah only has dozens of precision missiles thanks to Israel's preventive actions.
"Hezbollah has two tools. One is tunnels and were stopping it. The second tool are the rockets, statistical weapons, but they want precise weapons. This changes the balance of power radically," said the prime minister at a Mossad graduation ceremony.
"According to Hezbollah's plan, they were supposed to be equipped with thousands of missiles today, but at this moment they have a few dozen. The reason they have a few dozens is among other things those that are sitting in this room," added Netanyahu, referring to the Mossad agents present.
The Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah has been building factories in the heart of Beirut to convert missiles into highly-accurate precision weapons capable of striking sensitive Israeli sites. Upon deciding to convert its massive 150,000-strong rocket arsenal to missiles with pinpoint accuracy, Hezbollah chose to transfer its sites to the heart of Beirut in order to deter Israeli airstrikes.
Israel has repeatedly reiterated that it will not allow Hezbollah to obtain highly accurate missiles that would threaten sensitive Israelis sites and has been escalating its threats vis a vis Lebanon.
