Hezbollah Will Not Intervene if the US Conducts Limited Strikes on Iran

Illustration of the Hezbollah military. (Wikimedia Commons/Tasnim News Agency)

JAKARTA - A Hezbollah official on Wednesday said the group would not intervene militarily if there was a limited US attack on Iran, but would consider any attack on Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a "red line."

The United States has repeatedly threatened Iran over its nuclear program, while Lebanese authorities fear Hezbollah could be drawn in if a potential US attack triggered a regional war.

"If there is a limited US attack on Iran, Hezbollah's position is not to intervene militarily," a Hezbollah official said on condition of anonymity to AFP as quoted by Al Arabiya (26/2).

However, the group stressed that if the United States tried to "provoke the fall of the Iranian regime or target the supreme leader, Hezbollah would intervene," he added.

The official estimated that in a hypothetical scenario in which the US attempted to overthrow the Iranian government militarily, the US ally, Israel, would "surely wage war against Lebanon."

It is known that US President Donald Trump has deployed warships and fighter jets near Iran to support his threat of an attack if ongoing negotiations between the two sides fail to reach an agreement.

Lebanon's foreign minister on Tuesday said the government feared Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure if Hezbollah - which still has ballistic missile weaponry - became part of a regional conflict between the US and Iran.

"What Lebanon fears is a chain reaction: an American attack on Iran, Hezbollah's retaliatory attack on Israel, followed by a massive Israeli response," said a Lebanese official who asked for anonymity.

Previously, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said his group was in a "defensive position", but would consider itself "targeted" by any US attack on Iran.

During the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last June, which was then followed by the US, Hezbollah did not interfere.