Iran Permanent Mission to U.N.: Hezbollah will "choose broader and deeper targets" after Israel's Beirut strike
The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations has warned that Hezbollah's response to Israel's assassination of one of its top commanders, Fuad Shukr, in a suburb of Lebanon's capital city Beirut on Tuesday may result in the militant group attacking much "broader and deeper" civilian as well as military targets inside Israel.
A spokesperson for the mission told CBS News exclusively how Hezbollah might respond to Israel's targeted strike in Beirut, which also killed at least five civilians and wounded several others, saying: "Until now, Hezbollah and the regime have, in an unwritten understanding, practically adhered to certain limits in their military operations, meaning that confining their actions to border areas and shallow zones, targeting primarily military objectives. However, the (Israeli) regime's attack on Dahieh 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."
Asked to clarify where these targets might be, the Iranian Mission to the U.N. told CBS News they would be within Israel's territory.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned on Thursday that Israel had crossed "red lines" and the conflict had "entered a new phase," adding, "The response will come, whether spread out or simultaneously." Shukr was believed to have been a close adviser to Nasrallah.
Israel's strike in Beirut came in response to a rocket attack last Saturday, blamed on Hezbollah, which killed 12 people, mostly children and teens playing soccer, in the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
As regional tensions have increased significantly over the past week, the Pentagon announced Friday that the U.S. is deploying an additional fighter squadron to the Middle East and moving additional cruisers and destroyers to help defend Israel and protect U.S. forces. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier will replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Middle East, a Pentagon spokesperson said.
Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon but is allied with and funded by Iran, took part in a retaliatory attack by Tehran on April 13 that saw more than 300 drones and missiles launched towards Israel, mainly from Iranian territory as well as from its other allied proxies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The attack came several days after an Israeli strike on Iran's consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus on April 1 that killed at least half a dozen Iranian commanders.
U.S. military forces and assets, which had been reinforced, helped Israel take down a majority of the projectiles before they reached Israeli territory. Israel's military said only a small number of projectiles managed to land inside Israeli territory. Only one casualty was reported.
It is unclear whether Hezbollah would again be part of a simultaneous retaliatory attack on Israel by Iran and its regional proxies, or would carry out its own separate attack.
Hezbollah is believed to have an arsenal of 150,000 missiles and rockets, including some with long ranges that collectively have the potential to overwhelm Israel's "Iron Dome" anti-missile defense system and could hit deep inside Israeli territory.
Israel's military, still embroiled in the conflict against Hamas in Gaza, has raised concerns that it would not be able to sustain fighting a war on two fronts, in its south and north.
An Israeli official told CBS News that while Israel had successfully avoided significant impact from Iran's April 13 attack, this time around Israel is anticipating a "more aggressive" retaliation, one that could even go beyond Israeli territory to target Israeli assets abroad.
Asked what Israel is expecting Tehran's response will be, another Israeli official told CBS News, "that's for Iran to decide."
Hamas's top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran on Wednesday. The New York Times and others have reported he was killed by an explosion. A U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that Israel committed the assassination, though the Israeli government has not publicly taken responsibility.
Israel also confirmed this past week that it had finally killed Mohammad Deif —the leader of Hamas's military wing and a mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack— in Gaza last month, after years of Israeli assassination attempts on him.
Israel's killing of all three Iran-allied figures has significantly raised concerns that tensions between Israel and Iran will escalate into a bigger regional conflict in the coming days.
—Margaret Brennan, Eleanor Watson and Olivia Gazis contributed reporting.