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 "The new aggression is a blatant assault on Lebanon and its
sovereignty and its territory... The Resistance (Hezbollah) will
choose the time and place and the proper way to respond to it,"
Hezbollah said in a statement.
The strike, which Israel has not confirmed, hit the Lebanese-Syrian
border near the Bekaa Valley village of Janta, Hezbollah said. It
denied reports that the strike targeted artillery or rocket bases
and said there were no casualties.
Lebanese security sources have said they believed that any attack
took place on Syrian soil, but Hezbollah's reference to Lebanese
sovereignty suggested it took place on the Lebanese side of the
ill-defined frontier.
Israeli planes have struck areas on the Syrian side of the border
several times in the last two years but, if confirmed, an air strike
on Lebanese soil would be the first since the Syrian revolt began in
2011.
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The eastern Lebanon-Syrian border area is frequently used by
smugglers and Lebanese security sources say the target of Israeli
strikes in Syria may have been trucks of weapons destined for
Hezbollah.
Israel has voiced alarm that amid the chaos of Syria's civil war,
weapons could be transferred to Hezbollah, which is supporting
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fight an insurgency but has
traditionally fought Israel.
Israel's military chief Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz reiterated
those fears on Sunday, a day before the strike, when he accused
Iran, Assad's ally and Hezbollah's patron, of moving weapons to the
militant group.
"There is no theatre in which Iran is not involved - giving out, if
you like, torches to pyromaniacs - whether this is munitions or
missiles or intervention in the fighting," he said.
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"We are tracking the processes of arms transfers in all of the
operational theatres. This is something that is very, very negative.
This is something that is very, very sensitive. And from time to
time, when the need arises, things can happen."
Israel's Channel 10 television on Tuesday broadcast what it said
were satellite images of the locations struck, which appeared to
show missile silos being readied for weapons.
The Lebanese army reported that four Israeli planes had flown across
north Lebanon on Monday night towards the Bekaa Valley before
heading southwest towards the Mediterranean near Lebanon's southern
border with Israel. Israeli jets regularly fly through Lebanese
airspace without permission.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not claim or deny the strike
but said on Tuesday Israel would "do everything required to
safeguard the security of the citizens of Israel."
(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes and Dominic Evans in Beirut
and Dan Williams and Crispian Balmer in Jerusalem; Editing by Janet
Lawrence)
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