All of Lebanon, including its civilian infrastructure, will be a target in any new Israeli war with Hizbullah, an Israeli minister said on Wednesday.

"The moment the Lebanese government confers legitimacy on Hizbullah, it must understand that the entire Lebanese state will be a target in the same way that all of Israel is a target for Hizbullah," Environment Minister Gideon Ezra told public radio.

"During the Second Lebanese War we considered the possibility of attacking Lebanon's infrastructure but we never resorted to this option, because we thought at the time that all the Lebanese were not responsible for the Hizbullah attacks," added Ezra, who is close to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Israeli bombing during the 2006 conflict with Hizbullah was largely confined to Beirut and the south but the military did hit civilian infrastructure, including Lebanon's main international airport, roads, bridges and a power station.

The conflict followed Hizbullah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid.

The military failed to secure the soldiers' return in the 34-day war and also failed to destroy Hizbullah's ability to rain rockets on northern Israel. The bodies of the two men were finally handed over by the Shiite group in a prisoner exchange last month.

Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said Israel does not consider the entire state of Lebanon to be an enemy but that "the moment Hizbullah takes control of the Lebanese government we will have to address the consequences."

"Israel will hit back harder than before" if Hizbullah fighters launch a new attack, Olmert warned.

Israel "did not use all means to respond then (in 2006), but if Lebanon becomes a Hizbullah state, then we won't have any restrictions in this regard," Olmert said in remarks released by his office on Tuesday.

He warned that the next war with Lebanon would involve attacks on Israel's cities, saying a future conflict "will reach the cities and homes of Israeli citizens and the goal of our enemy will be to hurt the home front," the Israeli daily Haaretz said on its website.

Olmert himself made similar remarks to Ezra's during a visit to Israel's homefront defense headquarters on Tuesday.

"During the war in Lebanon we had a massive capacity that we refrained from using because we were fighting a terrorist organization and not a state, but if Lebanon becomes a Hizbullah state we will not be so restrained," he said.

Hizbullah fired around 4,000 rockets into northern Israel during the 34-day war between the Shiite group and the Jewish state in the summer of 2006.

Olmert, according to Haaretz, further stressed the importance of maintaining calm and preventing panic among the public in light of media reports about increasingly dangerous threats to the country.

"We don't need to scare ourselves too much with regards to the threats," Olmert said. "Ultimately, the threat that we foresee in our imaginations is more demonic than it really is," Haaretz quoted Olmert as saying.

"In many respects, the Home Front Command will be the first and most important command in any future war and I am impressed by the astounding progress in its readiness and the change in its mindset," Olmert said.

Last month, Prime Minister Fouad Saniora formed a national unity government that gives the Hizbullah-led opposition 11 ministries and the power of veto over cabinet decisions.

In a policy statement earlier this month, the new government affirmed "the right of Lebanon, its people, its army and its resistance to liberate its land," a reference to some disputed border districts still held by Israel.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hizbullah of violating U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the war, by importing increasingly advanced weapons from Syria.

Israel has meanwhile carried out routine overflights of southern Lebanon, which is also in violation of the resolution.(AFP-Naharnet)