Hizballah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah was poisoned and in critical condition last week before a team of Iranian doctors flew into Beirut and saved his life, Lebanese diplomatic sources told Iraqi news website Almalaf on Wednesday.
The sources said that Nasrallah was struck down by an extremely poisonous chemical substance, and was very near death before the Iranians arrived and managed to neutralize the toxin.
The Lebanese diplomats said they are reasonably certain that Israel was behind the assassination attempt.
There was no immediate response from Jerusalem, and Hizballah sources later claimed that Nasrallah had not been poisoned at all.
Nevertheless, observers fear that the incident will be used by Hizballah to justify a missile strike on Israel. The group is said to be keen to renew hostilities against the Jewish state at this time.