Israel has sent an indirect message to Lebanon that it would strike Lebanon “hard”, targeting civilian infrastructure, including the airport, if Hezbollah gets involved in any US-Iran war, two senior Lebanese officials said.
Lebanon's Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi also said on Tuesday his country feared Israeli strikes could hit its infrastructure if the situation with Iran escalates.
"There are signs that the Israelis could strike very hard in the event of an escalation, potentially including strategic infrastructure such as the airport," Raggi told reporters in Geneva.
"We are currently conducting diplomatic efforts to request that, even in the event of retaliation, Lebanese civilian infrastructure not be targeted," he said.
He stressed that his country's leadership had been very clear: "This war does not concern us."
On Monday, Washington ordered non-emergency personnel to leave its embassy in Beirut as anticipation rose of a possible conflict.
Iran and the US will hold a third round of nuclear talks on Thursday in Geneva, Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on Sunday, amid growing concerns about the risk of military conflict between the adversaries.
Hezbollah's new leader, Naim Qassem, said in a televised address last month that the group was "not neutral" in the standoff between Washington and Tehran and that it was "targeted by the potential aggression".
"We are determined to defend ourselves. We will choose in due course how to act, whether to intervene or not," Qassem said.
The US State Department is pulling out non-essential government personnel and their eligible family members from the US embassy in Beirut, a senior State Department official said on Monday.
Israel has continued to carry out strikes in Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire.
In just a year of truce, Lebanese and UN sources report Israel violated the ceasefire over 10,000 times, including more than 7,500 airspace violations and 2,500 ground violations.
