Iranians protest to condemn Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza

Thousands of Iranians protested on Friday in the capital Tehran and other cities to condemn Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza, AFP journalists and state media reported.

Officials had on Wednesday called on the nation to demonstrate in support of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon "and to condemn the barbaric crimes of the Zionist regime in Palestine," the official IRNA news agency said.

Hezbollah is part of the "Axis of Resistance," Iran-aligned armed groups across the Middle East which have targeted Israel, and also US forces, in support of Palestinian militants Hamas.

In Tehran after Friday prayers, a protest took place around Enghelab Square in the city center, an AFP journalist said.

Demonstrators carried portraits of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as well as Palestinian and Hezbollah flags.

"Israel is destroyed. Lebanon is victorious," they chanted, deploring "a bloodbath in Lebanon."

Protesters also burned Israeli and US flags.

State television aired footage of other demonstrations in Semnan, Qom, Kashan, Kermanshah, Shiraz and Bandar Abbas.

Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, triggering a war with Israel and near-daily cross-border fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon against Israel, which has hit back.

Those exchanges have intensified dramatically over the past week. Israeli raids on Lebanon since Monday have killed hundreds in the deadliest violence since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

As the violence escalates, analysts say Iran is walking a tightrope by trying to support Hezbollah without getting dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy's hands.