Iran warns Hezbollah will strike civilian targets deeper in Israel as war fears heighten
Tehran says it expects group to carry out ‘broader and deeper’ strikes in the wake of killing of Fuad Shukr; IDF strike kills ‘a main terrorist’ in Hezbollah’s southern command
Iran said on Saturday it expects Lebanon’s Tehran-backed Hezbollah terror group to strike deeper inside Israel and no longer be confined to military targets after Israel killed Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr.
The warning comes amid increased fears of a major escalation in the area and continued cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, which started attacking Israel the day after the October 7 Hamas-launched onslaught on Israel from Gaza.
But a strike claimed by Israel in a crowded residential area of South Beirut changed the Lebanese terror group’s calculus, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said.
A spokesperson for Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations told CBS that until now, Hezbollah has limited itself according to an “unwritten understanding” with Israel “confining their actions to border areas and shallow zones, targeting primarily military objectives.”
“However, the [Israeli] regime’s attack on the Dahieh [neighborhood] in Beirut and the targeting of a residential building marked a deviation from these boundaries. We anticipate that, in its response, Hezbollah will choose both broader and deeper targets, and will not restrict itself solely to military targets and means,” the spokesperson said.
The strike on Tuesday killed Shukr. According to Lebanon’s health ministry, five civilians — three women and two children — also died.
Israel said Shukr was responsible for the rocket attack that killed 12 children and teens playing soccer in the Golan Heights, and had directed Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since the Gaza war began.
Hours after Shukr’s killing, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in a pre-dawn explosion in his accommodation in Tehran, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said.
Israel has not claimed responsibility.
On Thursday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Israel and “those who are behind it must await our inevitable response” to the killings of both Shukr and Haniyeh.
Iran and Hamas have also vowed to retaliate.
A main terrorist
The clashes continued over the weekend.
A prominent Hezbollah operative in the terror group’s so-called Southern Front unit was killed in an Israeli drone strike on Saturday in southern Lebanon, the IDF said.
The strike in the town of Bazourieh, near the coastal city of Tyre killed Ali Abd Ali.
الدفاع المدني في جنوب #لبنان: إستشــ ـهاد
شخص في الغارة "الإسرائيلية" التي استهدفت سيارة في محيط بلدة البازورية#ملحق pic.twitter.com/SLmbkr19M2— Mulhak – ملحق (@Mulhak) August 3, 2024
The IDF said Ali was a “main terrorist in the Southern Front of the Hezbollah terror organization,” and involved in planning and carrying out numerous attacks.
His killing is a “significant blow to the functioning of the Southern Front and the Hezbollah terror organization in the region,” the IDF added.
The Southern Front is a Hezbollah regional unit responsible for the terror group’s activities in the entire southern Lebanon, the equivalent of a regional command.
צה"ל חיסל הבוקר, באמצעות כלי טיס של חיל האוויר, במרחב אל בזוריה שבדרום לבנון, את עלי נזיה עבד עלי, מחבל מרכזי בחזית הדרום של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה>> pic.twitter.com/W8rrbCfgvj
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 3, 2024
A source close to Hezbollah said late Friday that Israel also carried out strikes on a convoy of trucks entering Lebanon from Syria.
“Three Israeli strikes targeted a convoy of tanker trucks on the Syrian-Lebanese border in the Hawsh el-Sayyed Ali area, injuring one Syrian driver,” the source told AFP.
It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes in the border area, the source added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor also reported Israeli strikes inside Syria near the border with Lebanon, without mentioning any casualties.
The strikes targeted an area near a border crossing “used by Hezbollah to move trucks and group members” between Lebanon and Syria, said the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
“One of the strikes targeted a truck convoy,” while another targeted “a farm on the outskirts of Qusayr in Homs province,” the Observatory said on Saturday.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has a strong presence on both sides of the eastern stretch of the Lebanese-Syria border, where it supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, incoming rocket sirens were activated in the Western Galilee community of Matat, with at least one rocket exploding in an open area.
In a further sign of tension, Sweden said Saturday it was shutting its embassy in Beirut after urging thousands of its citizens to leave Lebanon.
“The foreign ministry has instructed its staff to leave Beirut and travel to Cyprus, and the foreign ministry is planning a temporary relocation of its embassy,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told Swedish Radio.
The decision had been taken “initially for the month of August but may be extended depending on the security situation.”
“The ministry is monitoring developments closely,” he said.
According to the foreign ministry, as many as 10,000 Swedish nationals may have traveled to Lebanon this summer, defying a travel warning in place for the country since October 2023.
“I urge Swedes in Lebanon to leave the country by whichever means possible, while they still can,” he said.
