Iran threatened to resume fighting against Israel if Israel continues its offensive on the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, due to the presence of Iranian officers at the compound alongside Hezbollah terrorists, Reuters reported Thursday.
Three US officials briefed on the Iranian message told Reuters that Iran warned the United States it would respond with force to an Israeli attack on the mountainous ridge in southern Lebanon, where Iranian military personnel are hiding alongside Hezbollah terrorists.
The message, delivered last month, has underscored Iran's continued direct involvement in the ground fighting in southern Lebanon and its readiness to respond to Israeli strikes there, as the regional war enters its seventh month.
According to Lebanese security sources, Hezbollah has apparently built an underground command center and weapons depots inside the Ali al-Taher ridge, which has become one of the most contested areas of the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Hezbollah said in public statements that it controls the ridge and would confront any Israeli advance. Officials referred to a "facility" there but declined to provide details. The IDF has captured territory south of Ali al-Taher and has identified the ridge as one of its "primary operational focal points" in public statements.
In its message to Washington, Tehran threatened that any full-scale Israeli attack on the ridge would be met with a large-scale Iranian response, the three regional officials, who spoke to Reuters anonymously, said.
Hezbollah declined to comment on whether Iranian forces are present at Ali al-Taher. Responding to Reuters' questions about the message, or whether the US pressured Israel not to attack Ali al-Taher, a White House official said, "This is not accurate." Iran's permanent mission in Geneva, the US Department of Defense, and Oman's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Israeli military declined to comment.
Two of the officials said the message was conveyed through Oman, which played a mediating role. The two regional officials, who were briefed by Tehran, said more than a dozen members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including at least two senior officers, were present with Hezbollah terrorists.
The third source, a foreign official with direct knowledge of the message, said it was delivered around mid-August and that, as a result of American pressure, Israel postponed its attack on Ali al-Taher.
Speaking to Reuters, Hezbollah's media office neither confirmed nor denied Iran's message but said it was a "natural conclusion" that such a warning would be issued regarding the ridge.
"Iran views any Israeli move on the ground in southern Lebanon, especially territorial expansion, as a significant violation of the Islamabad Agreement," Hezbollah's media office said, referring to the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran from June that included a ceasefire for Lebanon.
Iran fired missiles at Israel in early June in retaliation for attacks on Hezbollah on the outskirts of Lebanon's capital.
