(BBC) - The secret is out. But the speculation has not ended. And the tension lingers dangerously.
Israel has suddenly broken its exceptional news blackout on a covert air raid against Syria, admitting officially its warplanes hit a "military installation" on 6 September.
This unexpected disclosure, after weeks of mysterious silence, came hours after the first public comments from Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.
He ended his silence in a BBC interview, saying Israeli jets hit "a building under construction related to the military but it's not used, it's under construction so there's no people in it, there's no army, there's nothing in it".
So now it is official, on both sides. But speculation over exactly what was hit continues to create ripples in capitals around the world.
Was it a suspected nuclear site established with North Korean help? Had Pyongang tried to dispose of some nuclear material to evade the inspectors? Maybe it was a Hezbollah arms cache? Or perhaps a test of Syria's new air defences?