Iran says Hezbollah will strike civilian targets deeper within Israel

Nasrallah: ‘The response will come, whether spread out or simultaneously.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations told CBS that the Tehran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah would strike deeper within Israel and aim for civilian targets.

Tensions have risen in the past few days over the assassination of Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr, who Israel says was responsible for an attack that killed 12 children in the Golan Heights, and the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, for which Israel has not taken responsibility.

In response, the Iranian mission said Hezbollah would depart from its previous policy of adhering “to certain limits in their military operations, meaning that confining their actions to border areas and shallow zones, targeting primarily military objectives.”

The spokesman for the mission said that since Israel struck in residential areas in Beirut and Dahieh, “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.”

When CBS asked to clarify what this mean, the spokesman said Hezbollah was intending to strike civilian targets within Israel.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that after the killing of Shukr, Israel had crossed “red lines,” the conflict had entered “a new phase,” and “The response will come, whether spread out or simultaneously.”

It is believed Hezbollah has 150,000 missiles and rockets, some of which may be able to overwhelm Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

On Saturday, an Israeli drone struck and killed a prominent Southern Front unit Hezbollah commander Ali Abd Ali in  Bazourieh, near the coastal city of Tyre.

The IDF said Ali Abd Ali was a key terrorist commander who planned and carried out many attacks.

The IDF added that eliminating Ali is a “significant blow to the functioning of the Southern Front and the Hezbollah terror organization in the region.”

Israel’s military also targeted a convoy of trucks coming into 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.