Hezbollah warns Israel against targeting Palestinians in Lebanon

The head of Lebanon's powerful armed movement Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, warned on Tuesday against any Israeli attempts to expand their targeting of Palestinians to Lebanon.

"Any attack on any human being will not go unpunished or unanswered," Nasrallah said in a televised address marking Ashura, a  commemoration of the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein.

Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah warned Israel on Tuesday against exploiting offshore gas reserves...https://t.co/elyeqwgMQn

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The comments came after three days of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that killed 47 Palestinians, including 15 children. Some senior members of Islamic Jihad, an Iran-backed militant group based in the besieged enclave, were also killed in the bombardment. 

On Saturday, Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz hinted at the possible targeting of Islamic Jihad officials abroad, who he said could be seen in "restaurants and hotels in Tehran, Syria and Lebanon".

"They too will have to pay the price," Gantz said.

On Monday, a day after a truce brokered by Egypt ended the Gaza violence, he said Israel could carry out "pre-emptive strikes" abroad.

"In the future too, if necessary, we will deliver a pre-emptive strike in order to defend Israel's citizens, sovereignty and infrastructure and this is true for all fronts, from Teheran to Khan Younis," he said.

Iran-backed Hezbollah is vehemently opposed to Israel and tensions between the two have been escalating in recent months over a disputed maritime border between Lebanon and Israel.