Hezbollah-Aligned Newspaper Urges Rockets On Tel Aviv

Israel has informed Washington that if Hezbollah harms more civilians in a retaliation campaign for the assassination of its top military commander Fuad Shukr last week, Israel's military will have no choice but to launch a disproportionate response.

"In the internal discussions with the U.S., Israel stressed that the cost of another Hezbollah mishap would be heavy and that Hezbollah would pay a disproportionate price if it harmed civilians as part of its retaliation," a senior Israeli official told Axios.

The report continues, "Two Israeli officials said that in recent days Israel told the U.S. via several military channels that it is concerned Hezbollah could hit civilian population centers if it tries to target military bases in central Israel."

Last month 12 children were killed in the occupied Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams during a Hezbollah rocket attack. Israeli officials believe the rocket was intended to hit a nearby IDF military base, while Hezbollah leadership has claimed an errant Israeli anti-air missile struck the soccer field where civilians died.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah has since the killing of Shukr in Beirut declared that its strikes will hit targets deeper inside Israel.

On Tuesday, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar - widely seen as sympathetic to Hezbollah - wrote that Hezbollah could decide to hit Tel Aviv, which would mark a new major escalation, likely leading to all-out war.

"If Hezbollah can choose targets, it is possible that it will target Tel Aviv and civilians might be harmed on the margins. The effective thing will be to hit a significant center of the organization that made the decision about the assassination and took part in it," the Al-Akhbar op-ed said. This too has been seen as a severe warning conveyed indirectly via Lebanese media.

Axios cites Israeli officials who "interpreted the article as saying the target for Hezbollah's response could be the IDF headquarters in the center of Tel Aviv or the Mossad headquarters and other key intelligence bases in northern Tel Aviv." They conclude: "The bases are all close to civilian neighborhoods and if a rocket were to miss them, it would likely harm civilians."

In a fresh speech, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah stated, "The fact that Israel is waiting for the response for a week is part of the punishment because it is also a psychological war that influences morale." At the same time, Iran is expected to launch an attack on Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh which occurred in Tehran. But nothing has happened and some observers believe that Iran's leadership is being talked down amid a global diplomatic press.