After initial denials, Hizbullah today acknowledged that it had been targeted by an Israeli air strike on Monday night and threatened retaliation “at the right time and place.” Hizbullah said there were no casualties but other Arab media outlets said four fighters were killed. According to the Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon the targets were “qualitative” long-range missiles that were being transferred to Hizbullah bases in Lebanon.
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Israeli officials continued to refuse to confirm that they were behind the attack. TIME magazine quoted an unnamed Israeli official that the planes struck a convoy transporting surface-to-surface missiles from Syria into Lebanon. Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that “our policy is clear – we will not speak about reports of what we did or didn’t do – but we do all that is necessary in order to defend our citizens. Netanyahu has repeatedly said in the past that Israel will not allow Syria to transfer “game-changing” weapons to Hizbullah.
Israeli embassies abroad stepped up their alert fearing a possible Hizbullah reprisal, although most analysts said if it happens at all, it could be in weeks or even months from now. In 2012, Hizbullah was behind an attack on a tourist bus in Bulgaria that killed five Israelis and the bus driver, and analysts said a similar attack is possible.