Hezbollah: Israel is ‘exposed’ and our rockets can hit any target in the country
Hezbollah rockets can reach any target in Israel, including the capital Tel Aviv, the deputy head of the Lebanese group said yesterday.
The comments were the first by a Hezbollah official since Israel last week launched an operation to uncover and destroy attack tunnels dug beneath its shared frontier with Lebanon.
“Ever since the 2006 [war with Hezbollah], Israel has been deterred by the capabilities of the Lebanese resistance,” Naim Qassem said in an interview with the Iranian
Al Wifaq newspaper.
“The entire domestic front in Israel, including Tel Aviv, is exposed. There is not a single spot in this Zionist entity that is not exposed to Hezbollah’s rockets,” Mr Qassem said.
Israel’s army said it had located three cross-border tunnels from Lebanon, after uncovering additional passageways at the weekend as they work to destroy what they believe are access routes being built by Iran-backed Hezbollah.
“The IDF has located an additional Hezbollah cross-border attack tunnel,” spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said, but refused to give details on its location or dimensions.
“The tunnel crosses into Israel. Like the first tunnel it is not yet operational and does not pose an imminent threat to Israeli communities,” he said on Saturday.
Last week the army launched an operation – Northern Shield – to destroy tunnels it said were dug under the border by Hezbollah, sharing images of one found near the Israeli town of Metula.
Lt Col Conricus said on Saturday that the army had placed explosives in the exposed tunnel to prevent its use as a means to infiltrate Israel, but had not yet destroyed it.
He said the Israeli military had issued warnings in Arabic to residents of southern Lebanon to stay away.
The first tunnel uncovered reportedly passed from the Lebanese Kafr Kila to Metula, another passed from Ramyeh in Lebanon across to Zarit.
Fog and heavy rain slowed the progress of Israeli military units searching the border area. While the army did not give details of locations or specifications of the tunnels, they shared images of soldiers caked in mud working at the reported sites.
Hezbollah social media accounts have not directly addressed the veracity of the claims, although they have reported the news of the search as well as adding that the Israeli military is extremely worried about the development.
Unifil, the UN peacekeeping force stationed in south Lebanon, said last week that it had sent teams to inspect the first tunnel uncovered by Israel and confirmed it was real but did not confirm that it had been built by Hezbollah.
After the army’s announcement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the operation to track the tunnels was “in its beginning”.
“We’ll continue to act till its completion,” he said.
Mr Netanyahu has been accused of using the discovery to deflect attention from the news that Israeli police had recommended prosecutors indict the prime minister and his wife over bribery.
Lt Col Conricus said the military was aware of the third tunnel from south Lebanon into Israel and they had asked Unifil to “take action and block the tunnel on the Lebanese side”.
Israel also opened fire at what they perceived to be three “Hezbollah activists” approaching the border near Yiftah, south of Metula, where the army was carrying out engineering work.
Lt Col Conricus said the army believed the three individuals intended to take sensors the Israeli soldiers had placed in the ground in efforts to locate tunnels.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli forces fired shots in the air east of the village of Mays Al-Jabal after they had been surprised, because of heavy fog, by a routine Lebanese army patrol.
Also on Saturday, the Kremlin said Mr Netanyahu called Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces are fighting on the same side as Hezbollah in Syria, to tell him about the tunnel operation. Mr Putin “stressed the need to ensure stability along the line separating Israel and Lebanon”, the Russian embassy in Israel said.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said he reiterated “Israel’s policy to prevent the establishment of an Iranian presence in Syria and to act against Iranian and Hezbollah aggression”.
Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria against what it says are Iranian military targets and deliveries of advanced arms to Hezbollah.
However, a friendly fire incident in Syria in September that led to the downing of a Russian plane by Syrian air defences during an Israeli strike has complicated Israeli operations.
Iran-backed Hezbollah is the only group in Lebanon not to have disarmed after the 19751990 civil war in the country.
It vowed to liberate all Israelioccupied territory having driven Tel Aviv to retreat from south Lebanon in 2000 after a bloody guerrilla campaign.
Israel still occupies the Shebaa Farms area and the northern half of Ghajar village, despite international and UN calls for it to withdraw.