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The deputy leader of Hezbollah said on Tuesday the Iran-backed group had moved beyond "painful blows" inflicted by Israel as Israeli forces began ground operations in the southwest of Lebanon, expanding its incursions into a new zone.
Naim Qassem said the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel was a war about who cries first, and that Hezbollah would not cry first. He said its capabilities are still intact after a year of fighting.
The regional tensions triggered a year ago by Palestinian armed group Hamas's attack on southern Israel have spiralled to a series of Israeli operations by land and air over Lebanon and direct attacks by Iran onto Israeli military installations.
Iran warned Israel on Tuesday against any attacks on the Islamic Republic, a week after Tehran fired a barrage of missiles on it, putting the Middle East on edge.
Any attack on Iran's infrastructure will be met with retaliation, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said, warning Israel against attacks on his country.
Araqchi will visit Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East starting on Tuesday to discuss regional issues and work on stopping Israel's "crimes" in Gaza and Lebanon, Iran's ISNA news agency reported.
Gulf Arab states - most of them major energy exporters like Iran - have sought to reassure Tehran of their neutrality in the Iran-Israel conflict, sources told Reuters last week.
"Our dialogue continues in regards to the developments in the region to prevent the shameless crimes of the Zionist regime (Israel) in Lebanon in continuation of the crimes in Gaza," Araqchi said in a video carried by state media.
"Starting today I'll start a trip to the region, to Riyadh and other capitals in the region and we will strive to have a collective movement from the countries of the region... to stop the brutal attacks in Lebanon."
In Lebanon, the Israeli military piled more pressure on Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah, saying it was conducting "limited, localized, targeted operations" in Lebanon's southwest after announcing such operations for the southeast border area.
Israel's military struck Beirut's southern suburbs overnight and said it killed a senior Hezbollah responsible for the group's budgeting and logistics.
If confirmed, the death of Suhail Hussein Husseini would be the latest in a string of Israel's assassinations of leaders and commanders of Hezbollah and its ally Hamas.
In the biggest blow to Hezbollah in decades, Israel killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah with an air strike in Beirut's southern suburbs late last month.
The situation in Lebanon is getting worse by the day, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, told the European Parliament on Tuesday, calling for a ceasefire.
Some 20 per cent of the Lebanese population had been forced to move, he said.