Beirut - Two Lebanese newspapers quote the Hezbollah leader as warning that his Iranian-backed militants will strike Israel's largest city of Tel Aviv with missiles from Lebanon - if the Jewish state attacked the guerrillas' south Beirut stronghold.

The papers - As-Safir and Al-Akhbar - are close to Hezbollah.

They reported on Monday that Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah made the threat during a closed meeting with Lebanese expatriates last weekend.

His comments follow a recent incident at the Lebanon-Israel border, which has been mostly calm for three years.

Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war in the summer of 2006. The fighting killed around 1 200 people in Lebanon - mostly civilians - and 160 in Israel. - Sapa-AP