TEL AVIV – Greece and Cyprus could be asked to provide vessels to Israel if that country is attacked, with tensions rising after the killings of terrorist group commanders Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Iran.

Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev said, “If we are attacked, we may ask for help from the Israeli Air Force and ships from Athens in Greece and Larnaca in Cyprus,” Greece’s state broadcaster ERT reported.

That could embroil Greece and Cyprus in the growing Mideast conflict, after Hezbollah, backed by Iran and based in Lebanon, warned Cyprus it could be attacked as well if it supports Israel.

Regev’s comments weren’t reportedly seen as asking for warships but for ships to repatriate stranded Israelis as flight cancellations are growing in the region, including Greece’s Aegean Airlines suspending flights to Lebanon.

Cyprus – which wondered why it was being targeted by Hezebollah after being a conduit to send humanitarian aid to Palestinians trapped in Gaza by Israel’s invasion and hunt for Hamas terrorists – had said it was ready to help assist in evacuation.

Anxiety has been growing in anticipation of Iran retaliating for an Israeli assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran and Hezbollah military leader Fouad Shoukr during an Israeli operation in southern Beirut.

In June, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Cyprus not to let Israeli forces use its military infrastructure to go after the terrorists or launch operations from the island which also has British military bases.

“Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is part of the war, and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war,” Nasrallah said.

A number of countries have urged their citizens to get out of Lebanon in worries that the conflict could widen and Greece has advised its citizens not to travel there and set up an emergency hotline to help them.