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Retaliation from Lebanon to the assassination of Iran's senior commander Qassem Soleimani is highly possible, experts said.
Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed late on Thursday in an airstrike on their convoy in Baghdad airport.
The assassination sparked anger among top Iranian officials and Tehran's allies in the region including Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy in Lebanon, whose leader vowed to continue the path of Soleimani while adding that punishment is the responsibility of all fighters worldwide.
"The assassination of Soleimani is a very big escalation and I am afraid that retaliation will happen from Lebanon through Hezbollah which now has a valid excuse to attack Israel," political analyst Youssef Diab told Xinhua.
"Lebanon is not a priority for Hezbollah. The Shiite political party follows an Iranian agenda," Diab said.
Soleimani is considered as one of Iran's most powerful men. He was commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, an elite unit that handles Iran's overseas operations, and is considered to be a terrorist organization by the United States.
He was also one of the main leaders to support Hezbollah in its war against Israel in July 2006.
"Soleimani has considerable footprint in Lebanon through Hezbollah," Sami Nader, director of Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs in Lebanon, told Xinhua.
Nader said that retaliation is very likely to take place from Lebanon because Hezbollah has considerable clout in the country and history shows how Americans have been targeted by the Shiite group in the past in Lebanon by attacking their embassy and U.S. marines.
Nader said he is not sure how and when Iran will hit back but it will surely do so to protect its image.
"An attack may also be followed by negotiations because both parties have an interest to find a peaceful solution," he said.
