Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem threatened Israel directly for the first time in months in a televised speech on Tuesday, saying missiles would fall on it if it resumed a broad war on Lebanon.

Naim Kassem’s comments came as Lebanon’s Cabinet was meeting to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament. Beirut is under U.S. pressure to disarm the group that recently fought a 14-month war with Israel and was left gravely weakened,

The Israeli military on Wednesday said it had struck several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, including weapons depots, rocket launch sites and facilities used to store technical equipment. Lebanese media also reported Israeli airstrikes in the region earlier in the day.

Hezbollah is sharply criticizing the Lebanese government’s decision to begin a process aiming to disarm the Iran-backed group this year, saying it “fully achieves” neighboring Israel’s interests.

The United States has presented Lebanon with a proposal for disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year, along with ending Israel's military operations in the country and the withdrawal of its troops from five positions in south Lebanon,

Shiite members of Lebanon's Cabinet walked out a government meeting on Thursday in protest of a proposed plan to disarm the Hezbollah militant group and political organization. The rest of the Cabinet then voted in favor of the U.