Iran: Hezbollah Will Strike Deep into Israel

Iran's mission to the United Nations has predicted that Hezbollah will strike deep into Israel and not limit itself to military targets in response to the assassination of the party's senior military commander, Fuad Shukr. 

The Lebanese front has returned to its pre-assassination "routine," with Tel Aviv intensifying assassinations against Hezbollah members, who have resumed attacks on Israeli sites across the border.

According to the official Iranian news agency IRNA, the mission stated, "We expect Hezbollah to choose more targets and strike deep into Israel," highlighting that Hezbollah and Israel had adhered to certain lines that were crossed by the Tuesday evening attack.

Lebanese officials and the public await Hezbollah's response with great concern, wondering if it will trigger a significant Israeli retaliation, potentially leading to a wider war in the region.

Retired Brigadier General Bassam Yassin believes that neither Hezbollah nor the axis powers led by Tehran are waiting to identify specific targets, as scenarios, plans, and potential targets are pre-determined. 

He noted that the delay in response is due to awaiting the appropriate political moment and completing communications among the axis powers. The response is expected to be joint to ensure the largest number of missiles and drones reach their targets, avoiding the Iron Dome and other activated air defense systems.

Yassin told Asharq Al-Awsat that the escalation to a broader war depends on the scale of the Israeli retaliation to the anticipated response from the axis powers. If Tel Aviv seeks a full-scale war, it will become one.

On the ground, Israel has continued to escalate its military operations both in number and intensity in recent hours.

The National News Agency reported on Saturday that a drone strike targeted a car between Wadi Jilo and Bazourieh in southern Lebanon, resulting in injuries. The Public Health Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health later announced that the Israeli attack on a vehicle between Bazourieh and Wadi Jilo resulted in the death of one young man and the injury of two others.

Hezbollah later mourned one of its members without specifying the location of his death, while Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee announced the elimination of a "central terrorist."

An Israeli warplane also struck the town of Tireh Harfa, followed minutes later by a drone strike on the town. The Public Health Emergency Operations Center reported that the Israeli attack on Tireh Harfa wounded one person, who was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition.

Additionally, the Israeli bombardment on Saturday targeted the town of Mais al-Jabal. Hezbollah responded to these operations by shelling the Al-Asi site with artillery and targeting a building used by Israeli soldiers in the Mettat settlement.

Israel has intensified its operations along the Lebanese-Syrian border in recent hours. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an Israeli drone targeted a car on the Damascus-Beirut road near the Zabadani area, killing a person inside.

On Friday night, an airstrike targeted a truck, which the National News Agency reported was carrying foodstuffs in the Hosh al-Sayed Ali area on the Lebanese-Syrian border.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the targeting of the Matrabah crossing area, which is nominally controlled by regime forces and is one of the crossings used by Hezbollah to move trucks and personnel between Lebanon and Syria. One strike targeted a convoy of trucks, while another hit a farm in the countryside of Qusayr in Homs, an area controlled by Hezbollah, resulting in some trucks catching fire without reports of human casualties.

The Israeli air force also conducted two airstrikes on the Syrian-Lebanese border region on Friday night, targeting the outskirts of the town of Qusair in the Hermel district, which overlaps with the Syrian border and is controlled by Hezbollah on both sides.