Lebanon defiant as Israel digs deep against tunnels
Every morning since last Tuesday locals from Kfar Kila, a small village at the Lebanese border with Israel, have awoken to the sound of digging.
“They haven’t stopped, even with the fog and rain,” says the owner of a small cafe on the town’s main roundabout.
Here, the main attraction is the view of the wall built by Israel in 2012, now covered with brightly coloured drawings of the Dome of the Rock and posters of Hezbollah “martyrs”.
The tops of Israeli excavators, visible behind the seven-metre high cement wall, move up and down drilling into the stony ground. An small Israeli security camera is focused on the Lebanese road that runs alongside the wall.
With much fanfare, Israel announced last week the discovery and destruction of a cross-border tunnel originating from Kfar Kila and built by Hezbollah, Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed party, which Israel considers to be a terrorist organisation.
After an on-site visit on the Israeli side with the Israeli Defence Forces, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon confirmed on Thursday “the existence of a tunnel near Metulla”, the Israeli town that faces Kfar Kila.
Some Lebanese officials have denied the existence of a tunnel, but the UN mission’s statement will put pressure on the government to co-operate in taking action against it.
Considering Hezbollah’s strong political influence, this could represent an escalation in tension in Lebanon and between the two countries.
Israel also reported the discovery of a second tunnel originating from Ramyeh, a town an hour south of Kfar Kila, and asked the UN mission to destroy it.
“Israel is trying to get the international community to pay attention to Hezbollah’s actions,” Hanin Ghaddar, of the Washington Institute, told The National.
The Arabic-speaking Israeli army spokesman, Avichay Adraee, warned Kfar Kila inhabitants on Twitter to rethink whether it is safe to continue living in the town, comparing the tunnel to a “ticking bomb”.
Speaking before the UN statement was released, the cafe owner laughed defiantly at Israel’s claims.
“Israel is making this all up,” he said. “They’re afraid of Hezbollah. There are no tunnels. Hezbollah doesn’t need them if they want to launch an attack against Israel. They have rockets.”
Tunnels have been used to great effect by Hezbollah during their last war against Israel in 2006, although the party is rumoured to now be capable of building precision rockets, which is much more worrying for Israel.
Hezbollah waited until Thursday afternoon to officially react after a meeting between top party officials and its ally Amal, also a Shia movement.
It did not deny that there was a tunnel and said that they “took note of the Israeli enemy’s attempts to harass Lebanon”, and that “the resistance is ready to stop the enemy to implement its goals”.
Hezbollah is dominant but both parties exert a strong influence in South Lebanon.
People in Kfar Kila reported that Israel had been active in two different areas these past few days. The first is close to the town centre, and the second a little more than a kilometre south.
“They’re not destroying a tunnel here,” a Lebanese journalist said. “They’re building a cement wall underground to stop any other tunnels from going through.”
The second spot fits the area shown on a map tweeted by Mr Adraee claiming that the entrance of the tunnel is under a cement factory surrounded by olive trees.
At the site, the gates to the factory are open. Tight-lipped employees said they were aware they were being targeted by the Israeli forces but shrugged indifferently.
“That’s what they say but there’s no tunnel here,” the owner said.
From here, Israel is shrouded in thick fog and any excavation activity would be inaudible.
But local opinions are more divided than it seems. Some in South Lebanon quietly oppose Hezbollah’s dominance and approve of Israel’s move against its tunnels.
“The Israelis are no donkeys. Tunnels are everywhere”, says a man, 50, from a Christian village near Kfar Kila.
The man, who works in construction, said he accidentally saw Hezbollah’s tunnel 18 months ago. He feared that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might drive Israel and Lebanon to war to distract from the leader’s domestic concerns, including accusations of bribery and fraud.