Hezbollah and Israel Exchange Fire as Iran Warns Hamas War Could Expand

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel again exchanged fire on Saturday as Iran warned that it may soon be "too late" to prevent the war with Hamas from becoming a wider regional conflict.

On October 7, Hamas, which the United States designates as a terrorist organization, led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest ever airstrikes on Gaza. As of Saturday, at least 1,300 people had been killed in Israel, the Associated Press reported, citing the Israeli military. More than 1,500 people had been killed and more than 6,600 had been injured in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, the AP said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country is "at war" and has cut off supplies of food, fuel, electricity and medicine into Gaza. Israel has called up 360,000 army reservists as it prepares for a likely ground offensive into the territory, which has an estimated population of around 2.3 million. Israel has told Palestinians to evacuate Gaza, but it remains unclear where civilians can flee for safety.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group that the U.S. also designates as a terrorist organization, has voiced strong support for Hamas, as has Iran. The Lebanese militant group has repeatedly exchanged fire with Israel since the start of the war, raising concerns that the conflict could become regional instead of isolated to Israel and Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Newsweek on Saturday that it was responding to further attacks by Hezbollah. "Following the initial report regarding several launches that were identified from Lebanon toward the Har Dov area, IDF soldiers are currently striking the origin of the launches," the Israeli military said.

It added: "During the strikes, a terrorist cell was identified which was suspected of intending to launch anti-tank missiles toward Israel. An IDF aircraft targeted the cell."

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television station said that the Lebanese group had launched strikes targeting Israeli outposts. "The resistance fighters fired precision missiles and mortar shells, hitting the Zionist outposts directly and accurately," Al-Manar reported.

Israel's strikes targeting Lebanon on Friday left a Reuters video journalist dead and injured six other journalists. Three Hezbollah militants were killed in Israeli attacks on Monday, and Israel said that one Israeli soldier was killed in a skirmish with the Lebanese group two days later, the AP reported.

Mohammad Harb, the mayor of the southern Lebanese village of Shebaa, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Israeli shelling on Saturday killed two civilians. "A man and his wife have been killed in their home," he said. The IDF said that it killed three militants attempting to infiltrate the country from Lebanon on Saturday, according to The Times of Israel.

Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Saturday during a visit to Beirut that the window for a diplomatic end to hostilities was closing, warning that the conflict could become regional. "Maybe, in the next few hours, it will be too late," he said, according to Lebanese news site Naharnet.

The Iranian official added that pro-Iranian groups, such as Hezbollah, "have designed all the scenarios and are prepared, and their finger is on the trigger to shoot."

On Friday, Hezbollah's deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said his group had a "vision and plan" for greater involvement in the war.

"We are following up on the enemy's step, we are maintaining full readiness and when the time comes for any action we will do it," Qassem said, rejecting calls for Hezbollah to remain out of the conflict.

He said, "Asking us not to interfere in the battle, will not affect us," adding that "Hezbollah knows its duties."

The U.S. State Department previously told Newsweek on Monday that Hezbollah and other groups should not get involved in the conflict. "Any decision by Hezbollah or other actors to drag Lebanon into this conflict would have terrible consequences for the Lebanese people. They deserve better," a spokesperson said.

Analysts have warned that Hezbollah's involvement would significantly escalate the situation, as the militant group has much greater firepower than Hamas. However, others have noted that the group, which holds significant political power within Lebanon, also faces substantial opposition within the country.

Lebanon continues to face a severe economic crisis, and while much of the Lebanese population is sympathetic to the Palestinians' cause, they would not be eager for their nation to be drawn into a bloody confrontation with Israel. Hezbollah and Israel fought a war in 2006 that lasted 34 days. The conflict is estimated to have left some 165 Israelis and more than 1,100 Lebanese dead.

"Iran has affiliates all over the Middle East. These groups are funded and supplied by the Iranians. Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, etc. all are beholding to the Iranian regime, and more importantly, the goal of achieving the worldwide Caliphate," Danny W. Davis, professor of the practice in homeland security at Texas A&M University, told Newsweek in an email on Saturday. "I believe Hezbollah will do exactly what the Iranian leaders order them to do."

Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that "everybody in the Islamic world is duty bound to help the Palestinian people," according to Iran's Tasnim News Agency.

Update, 10/14/23 at 1:46 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.