diff --git a/tools/send_message_tool.py b/tools/send_message_tool.py
index 5b0714b0ba1f..cae4f882ba3f 100644
--- a/tools/send_message_tool.py
+++ b/tools/send_message_tool.py
@@ -45,9 +45,10 @@
 # newsletter chats. These are explicit native targets the bridge accepts
 # verbatim — they must NOT fall through to home-channel resolution.
 _WHATSAPP_JID_RE = re.compile(
-    r"^\s*[\w-]+@(?:g\.us|s\.whatsapp\.net|lid|broadcast|newsletter)\s*$",
+    r"^\s*[-\w]+@(?:g\.us|s\.whatsapp\.net|lid|broadcast|newsletter)\s*$",
     re.IGNORECASE,
 )
+_WHATSAPP_LID_RE = re.compile(r"^\s*(\d+@lid)\s*$")
 # Email addresses — a valid email like "user@domain.com" should be treated as
 # an explicit target for the email platform, not fall through to channel-name
 # resolution which has no way to resolve a raw address.
@@ -549,6 +550,10 @@ def _parse_target_ref(platform_name: str, target_ref: str):
             # Preserve the leading '+' — signal-cli and sms/whatsapp adapters
             # expect E.164 format for direct recipients.
             return target_ref.strip(), None, True
+    if platform_name == "whatsapp":
+        match = _WHATSAPP_LID_RE.fullmatch(target_ref)
+        if match:
+            return target_ref.strip(), None, True
     if target_ref.lstrip("-").isdigit():
         return target_ref, None, True
     # Matrix room IDs (start with !) and user IDs (start with @) are explicit