Hezbollah threatens to attack new Israeli targets if civilians are killed

“If the enemy continues to attack civilians as it has done in recent days, it will force us to attack places we have not attacked before,” Nasrallah said.

Lebanon’s state news agency said five people, including three Syrian children, were killed in Israeli attacks in the south on Tuesday.

In response, Hezbollah said it had fired volleys of Katyusha rockets at northern Israel.

The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, described the killing of the children as “horrific.” The children were reportedly playing outside their house at the time of the attack.

Nasrallah warned Israel of the consequences of an invasion of Lebanon, saying Israel would be left without tanks if a full-scale conflict broke out.

The Israeli military said last month that “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon have been approved and confirmed.”

In a speech during the Shiite Ashura commemoration, Nasrallah also promised to help thousands of Lebanese whose homes were destroyed by cross-border attacks.

“We assure the residents whose homes have been partially or completely destroyed that we will work hand in hand with them… we will rebuild our homes,” he said.

Since October, 511 people have been killed in cross-border violence in Lebanon, most of them fighters but including at least 104 civilians, according to an AFP count.

On the Israeli side, 17 soldiers and 13 civilians were killed, according to authorities.

The violence is largely confined to the border region and raises fears of an open conflict between the two enemies, who last fought a war in the summer of 2006.

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