Iran has ordered Hezbollah and other allied militant groups across the region to gear up for a broader, more intense conflict, as military clashes between the United States and Iran continue to intensify and fighting persists in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Nidaa Al Watan newspaper reported Friday that Iranian officials delivered the directive to leaders of the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” including Hezbollah, during meetings held in Tehran at the funeral of former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. According to the report, those officials told the group’s leaders to make military readiness their top priority and signaled that a period of waiting was coming to a close.
The report emerged against a backdrop of ongoing U.S. airstrikes on Iranian infrastructure and Iranian drone counterattacks across the Persian Gulf. American forces have struck bridges, airports, and military installations inside Iran. In response, Tehran launched attacks on U.S. military bases in Jordan, Kuwait, and Qatar, and also targeted commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei publicly echoed the warning his government reportedly delivered to its regional allies. “Now that the American enemy seeks to ignite further war, impose even heavier costs, and suffer even greater disgrace, it should know that the noble Iranian nation and the Axis of Resistance have unforgettable lessons in store for it,” he declared.
The report also indicated that Iran continues to view Hezbollah as its most critical regional proxy. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is said to be working to rebuild the Lebanese militant group’s weapons stockpile, specifically by supplying advanced drone technology — including first-person-view systems and fiber-optic hardware.
Israel has largely stayed out of the direct military exchanges between Washington and Tehran, though the reported Iranian directive raised the possibility that Hezbollah could take on a more active combat role going forward.
In a separate development, the Israel Defense Forces announced that the Israeli Air Force carried out a strike in southern Lebanon, killing a Hezbollah cell near the security zone. The strike came after Commando Brigade troops operating under Division 36 identified the operatives using explosive drones in the village of Tabnit.
Also in southern Lebanon, one Lebanese army soldier was killed and two others were injured when an explosive device went off near a military vehicle in the village of Al-Mansouri. Lebanese media initially described the blast as a deliberate attack on army personnel, but later reporting suggested it was most likely caused by leftover munitions rather than a targeted strike.
