Israel sent message to Hezbollah that wide-scale targeting of civilians will lead to war – report

After the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander, Israel conveyed a message to the terror group via western diplomats that the large-scale targeting of Israeli civilians will lead to full-blown war, the Ynet news site reports.

According to the report, the message sent to the terror group noted that Israel was targeting commanders and fighters in the terror group rather than infrastructure, and the expectation was that Hezbollah should therefore only target Israeli military personnel.

Israel is bracing for retaliation after Hezbollah senior commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Beirut, making him the most senior figure from the group to be killed in nearly 10 months of conflict with Israel.

Yesterday it was reported that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered a direct strike on Israel for the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has not commented on the killing.