Israel declined to comment.
Tehran:
Iran said on Saturday it expects the Lebanon-backed Hezbollah group to strike deeper into Israel and no longer limit itself to military targets after Israel killed Hezbollah’s military commander.
Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces almost daily and says it is targeting military positions across the border since its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking war in Gaza.
But an attack claimed by Israel in a crowded residential area in south Beirut changed the situation, the Iranian mission to the United Nations said.
“We expect Hezbollah to select more targets and intervene more deeply in its response,” the mission said, as quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
“Second, that the country will not limit its response to military targets.”
The attack on Tuesday killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr. Five civilians – three women and two children – were also killed, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Israel said Shukr was responsible for the rocket fire that killed 12 youths on the annexed Golan Heights and had led Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since the start of the Gaza war.
“Hezbollah and the (Israeli) regime had followed certain lines,” including limiting attacks on border areas and military targets, the Iranian mission said.
The strike in Beirut crossed that line, it added.
Hours after Shukr’s killing, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a pre-dawn “hit” on his Tehran property, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said.
Israel declined to comment.
On Thursday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Israel and “those behind it must wait for our inevitable response” to the killings of both Shukr and Haniyeh.
Iran and Hamas have also vowed to retaliate.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)