Israel's goal is to "act everywhere, every day to prevent the force build-up of our enemies," Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on 2 April, in an apparent reference to the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, the day before.
As is customary, Israel did not take credit for the bombing, which killed Iranian diplomats and a top commander in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Reza Zahedi, and his deputy.
"We are in a multi-front war, in the offense and defense. We see evidence of this every day, including in recent days," he said at a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Gallant says Israel is also working "to make it clear to everyone who acts against us, all over the Middle East, that the price for acting against Israel will be a heavy price."
Gallant made similar comments on Friday following Israeli strikes on Aleppo and southern Lebanon, further affirming his intention to escalate the war against Hezbollah both on the Lebanese border and elsewhere.
Speaking at the army's Northern Command in Safed, Gallant claimed, "Israel is transitioning from defense to pursuit of Hezbollah; we will reach wherever the organization operates, in Beirut, Damascus, and beyond," he said. "Wherever we need to act, we will act."
More than 44 people, including 36 Syrian soldiers and seven Hezbollah members, were killed in the Israeli airstrikes in Aleppo on Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
In Lebanon, an Israeli drone strike hit a car near the southern port city of Tyre, killing a Hezbollah member, Ali Naim.
Israel claimed Naim was the deputy head of Hezbollah's rocket and missile program.
The killing came after Hezbollah fired a barrage of Katyusha and Burkan rockets toward the Israeli settlements of Goren and Shlomi.
Lebanon's Al-Manar TV said the group had not previously fired Burkan rockets, which weigh up to 500 kg, only at military bases and not settlements, but was now responding to Israeli airstrikes days before that killed 13 Lebanese civilians, including nine paramedics.
The Israeli settlements along the Lebanon border were evacuated by Israeli authorities after the start of the war on 8 October.