Hezbollah leader says only U.S. military should be targeted in retaliatory attacks

What he’s saying: Nasrallah said targeting non-military Americans would benefit Trump, according to WashPost.

• “There are many U.S. civilians in our region — engineers, businessmen, journalists. We will not touch them. Touching any civilian anywhere in the world will only serve Trump’s policy.”
• When calling for retribution, “we do not mean the American people,” he said. “The true, just retribution for those who conducted this assassination is an institution, which is the U.S. military. We will launch a battle against those killers, those criminals.”

Between the lines: During the speech, Nasrallah avoided mentioning Lebanon as a potential site to launch retaliation attacks and distanced the country from Iran, saying “we are not tools to be directed by Iran.”

• Lebanon has been shaken by protests against political elites, including Hezbollah leadership.

The big picture: By interfering in a conflict between Iran and the U.S., Hezbollah could squander the political benefits it will gain from forming a new Lebanese government with a Hezbollah nominee as prime minister.