Lebanese government urges Hezbollah militant group to avoid getting involved if the US strikes Iran

GENEVA (AP) - The Lebanese government has urged the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah not to get involved if any fighting erupts between the United States and Iran, the Lebanese foreign minister said Tuesday, expressing concerns about a new possible conflict with Israel.

Speaking to a small group of journalists in Geneva, Youssef Rajji said Lebanese officials had been warned that in the event of another Israel-Hezbollah war, Israel would strike harder against civilian infrastructure across Lebanon than in the previous round of fighting.

The appeal comes amid growing concerns that the U.S. might carry out new strikes against Iran. Iran held annual military drills with Russia on Thursday as a second U.S. aircraft carrier drew closer to the Middle East.

Both the U.S. and Iran have signaled they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran's nuclear program fizzle out.

Rajji said Lebanese authorities had appealed to Hezbollah, which has fought several wars with Israel, most recently in 2024, not to respond in any way that could trigger "bad situations" for Lebanese civilians.

"Lebanon has received signs that the Israelis could strike civilian infrastructure and maybe the airport" in Beirut, Rajji said in Geneva, where he was attending a Human Rights Council session.

During the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024, the airport was not hit and remained operational throughout the conflict. In a monthlong war between the two in 2006, Israel struck the Beirut airport. Many Lebanese civilians have been killed, wounded or displaced in previous rounds of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel a day after the militant Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggering the war in Gaza. After months of low-level fighting, the conflict escalated into a full-scale war in September 2024, when Israel launched bombardment that killed much of Hezbollah's leadership, followed by a ground invasion, severely weakening Hezbollah before a U.S. brokered ceasefire nominally halted the fighting.

Israel has continued to launch-near daily strikes in Lebanon since the November 2024 ceasefire, which it says aim to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding.

Rajji said Lebanon is also asking Western partners to appeal to the Israelis not to attack civilian infrastructure if Hezbollah goes after Israel, a key U.S. ally, following possible U.S. strikes on Iran.

The comments come a day after the U.S. State Department said it had ordered nonessential diplomats and their family members at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to leave Lebanon, as tensions over Iran rise with the threat of a potentially imminent military strike.

Rajji said he was not aware of any other countries that were taking similar precautions to those of the U.S. in Lebanon.

Lebanon has been the site of numerous Iran-related retaliatory attacks against U.S. facilities, interests and personnel for decades given Tehran's support for and influence with Hezbollah. The group has been held responsible for the deadly bombings of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and an embassy annex in 1984.