Israel has thwarted a major terror attack planned by the Iran-backed Hizbullah in a European city, Israeli news outlets reported.
The attack was planned against an Israeli interest in an unnamed European city and was foiled in recent weeks, Israel’s Channel 2 News reported, quoting unnamed defense sources.
The attack was thwarted because of intelligence cooperation between Israel and the European country, according to the report.
Israel believes Hizbullah will attempt to stage attacks against Israeli or Jewish interests around the world as the first anniversary of the assassination of senior Hizbullah operative ‘Imad Mughniyah draws closer.
Mughniyah, Hizbullah’s head of operations, was assassinated in February 2008 in Damascus.
Israel’s overseas intelligence agency, the Mossad, has been named as a possible orchestrator of this attack. Israel never confirmed its role in the killing and as a rule Jerusalem does not comment on its security operations overseas.
A Hizbullah spokeswoman in Lebanon declined to comment on the report of a thwarted attack, especially since it came from Israeli news sources.
“We don’t comment on these things. Israelis say a lot,” the spokeswoman said.
Asked if the movement was planning any attacks ahead of the anniversary of Mughniyah’s assassination, she scoffed at the notion of sharing this with journalists.
“If I had an idea, would I tell you? Surely not. We have nothing to say,” she said.
Israeli security services are raising the alert level ahead of the anniversary. In addition, Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has flamed anti-Israeli sentiments throughout the Arab and Muslims worlds, and Israeli security forces are generally more alert.
Recent news reports suggested a Hizbullah plot to blow up the Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan in the weeks after Mughniyah’s assassination was foiled thanks to Azeri intelligence.