Israeli strikes on Ali Taher hill on Aug. 14, 2026. (Credit: AFP)
Iran has warned the United States that it would respond forcefully to an Israeli offensive on Ali Taher hills (Nabatieh district), where Iranian military personnel are reportedly holed up with Hezbollah fighters, three officials briefed on the message told Reuters.
The message, delivered last month, highlighted Iran's continued direct involvement in the ground fighting in southern Lebanon and its readiness to retaliate against Israeli attacks there as the regional war enters its seventh month.
Hezbollah is believed to have built an underground command center and weapons stores within the Ali Taher ridge, which has a commanding view of southeastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese security sources, and has become one of the most contested lands in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Hezbollah has said in public statements that it controls the hill and will confront any Israeli advances. Its officials have referred to a "facility" there, but have declined to provide details.
The Israeli military has occupied swathes of territory to Ali Taher's south and has identified the ridge as one of its "primary operational focuses" in public statements.
In its message to Washington, Tehran threatened that any full-fledged Israeli offensive on the ridge would be met with a large-scale Iranian attack, said the three officials in the region, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Hezbollah declined to comment on whether Iranian forces were present in Ali Taher. In response to Reuters questions about the message, or whether the U.S. had put pressure on Israel not to attack Ali Taher, a White House official said, "this is not accurate." There was no immediate comment from Iran's permanent mission in Geneva, the U.S. Defense Department, or Oman's foreign ministry. The Israeli military declined to comment.
IRGC forces held up
Two of the officials said the message was delivered via Oman, which has played a mediating role. Those two regional officials, briefed by Tehran, said over a dozen members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, including at least two senior officers, were with Hezbollah fighters.
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 U.S. pressure, Israel had put off storming Ali Taher.
Contacted by Reuters, Hezbollah's media office neither confirmed nor denied Iran's message but said it was a "natural conclusion" that such a warning would have been sent about the ridge.
"Iran considers any Israeli move on the ground in southern Lebanon, especially territorial expansion, a major violation of the Islamabad Agreement," Hezbollah's media office said, referring to the June U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding that included a Lebanon cease-fire.
Iran fired missiles towards Israel in early June in retaliation for attacks on Hezbollah on the Lebanese capital's outskirts.
Israel seeks to besiege Hezbollah fighters
Despite a cease-fire announced in June, the Israeli military has said Hezbollah is still operating around the ridge and twice over the last week launched explosive drones towards Israeli troops near the ridge.
In July, it said it had launched an air strike on a Hezbollah fighter near an access shaft to the underground site at Ali Taher and vowed not to allow Hezbollah to operate in the area or pose a threat to Israeli soldiers.
An Israeli military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters in June that Hezbollah fighters were stuck underground without food or water. Israeli newspaper Maariv, citing a military source, said on Thursday that the Israeli military assessed there were no IRGC forces in Ali Taher and that some Hezbollah fighters had died without food and water.
The third official said Israel's military was trying to smoke out Hezbollah and IRGC personnel by besieging them, shooting down attempted drone deliveries of food and water to the ridge.
"What we have seen over the past month is Israeli pressure to besiege Ali Taher to impose a reality within this facility that renders it uninhabitable. This approach, and the absence of a large-scale attack, means that it is possible a message was conveyed through several countries. This is a natural conclusion," Hezbollah's media office told Reuters.
Meanwhile, whilst behind-the-scenes discussions are taking place regarding the fate of the Ali Taher ridge in order to avoid an offensive that could provoke Iranian retaliation, the newspaper Israel Hayom reports, citing “security and intelligence sources," that Israel is preparing for the possibility that Iran is gearing up to “activate Hezbollah” to launch attacks on Israeli territory during the Jewish festivals in September.
Such a move would aim to “derail negotiations between Beirut and Tel Aviv,” which are currently on hold but for which a new round of talks could take place later this month. In the event of a further escalation, the Israeli authorities are reportedly currently discussing retaliatory options with the United States, ranging from direct attacks on Hezbollah — particularly in the southern suburbs of Beirut — to strikes against Iran.
Hezbollah threatens retaliation
A Lebanese source briefed by Hezbollah said the group's fighters can still access their positions through the ridge's northern side.
Reuters could not independently confirm the military situation at Ali Taher, which Israel's military has included in a self-declared security zone occupied by its troops and off-limits to Lebanese.
Despite Iran's warning, the Lebanese source and a senior Lebanese security official said an Israeli military operation to capture the ridge was still possible in the coming weeks.
Hezbollah said any large-scale attack on Ali Taher would mean a return to full-blown war, and could see missiles landing on northern Israeli communities.
Hezbollah shifts to ‘guerrilla’ modus operandi
Hezbollah is reportedly "changing its modus operandi" in southern Lebanon and is said to be considering a shift towards a decentralized structure, involving small cells planning ambushes, alongside its use of booby-trapped drones targeting Israeli occupying forces, reports the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronoth, citing in particular a study by the Alma Center — composed mainly of Israeli army veterans — which supports this narrative.
Israeli security officials quoted in the media emphasize that the pro-Iranian group “continues to gather intelligence on Israeli soldiers, study their modus operandi, map their positions, and identify their operational methods, in preparation for a scenario in which fighting would resume in the form of infiltrations, ambushes, the launching of explosive drones, and the setting up of booby-trapped areas.”
Yediot claims that this change in modus operandi is a consequence of the offensives carried out by Israel, which have dismantled the infrastructure of the al-Radwan force — Hezbollah’s elite unit — many of whose commanders have been killed since 2023 and which was primarily active in the South. This destruction is said to have prompted Hezbollah to "abandon" its large-scale plans — notably the plan regularly cited by Tel Aviv for an attack in northern Israel — and to switch to a "guerrilla" model.
Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for any attacks against Israeli forces since the theoretical "cease-fire" reached in June. The Israeli army, for its part, has accused it of launching three drone attacks on its forces, to which it responded with air strikes outside its occupied “buffer zone.”
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