Two Hezbollah terrorists were killed in Sunday evening's airstrikes on Syrian government targets close to the capital Damascus, including one senior member of the Shia Islamist group, according to Al Arabiya.
The airstrikes, believed to have been carried out by Israel, took place at two separate locations including Damascus International Airport, and were widely reported to have hit unspecified "military targets."
According to Arab media reports early Monday, the airstrikes were targeting advanced Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, possibly S300 air defense batteries. Both Hezbollah-linked and Syrian government outlets denied those claims, and the Syrian military claimed there were no casualties in either strike, only "material losses."
But sources told the Arab news network that a "senior military figure" within the Iranian-backed Islamist group was among two Hezbollah terrorists killed in the strike. If true, those reports would seem to confirm the theory that Israeli jets were targeting advanced weaponry destined for Hezbollah, in what would be far from the first operation of its kind.
A UN spokesperson on Monday said that the observer force in the Golan Heights had witnessed "six aircraft flying in high altitude on the Alpha (Israeli) side," two of which then crossed into Syrian airspace, reports AFP.
Israel has reportedly carried out a number of raids on Syrian targets and on Hezbollah positions - including one just over a year ago at the Dimas airbase.
In March, Israeli warplanes attacked Syrian army positions just hours after a bomb wounded four Israeli soldiers on the Golan, one severely.
But Israeli government and military officials tend to remain tight-lipped on such operations, and Sunday's was no exception.
However, Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz appeared to allude to the strike Monday morning, when he told Israeli radio that Israel has "a firm policy of preventing all possible transfers of sophisticated weapons to terrorist organisations."
Hezbollah, which is committed to Israel's destruction, has been directly aiding the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in its fight against Sunni rebels. It has long been feared that with the effective collapse of Syria's central government in much of the country, and as part of the Iranian proxy group's "reward" for backing a key ally of Tehran, Hezbollah could be gifted "game-changing" weaponry from Syria's arsenals.
In particular, surface-to-air missiles such as the S300 system would pose a real threat to Israeli Air Force jets in any conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon - where until now the IAF has enjoyed air-supremacy.