Gulf News

Tension in Lebanon as Israel destroys tunnels

Lebanese soldiers, UN peacekeepe­rs on alert while Netanyahu warns Hezbollah

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As Israeli excavators dug into the rocky hills along the frontier with a Lebanese village, a crowd of young Lebanese men gathered to watch.

The mood was light as the crowd observed what Israel says is a military operation — dubbed “Northern Shield” — aimed at destroying attack tunnels built by the Hezbollah militia. The young men posed for selfies, with the Israeli crew in the background, as they burnt fires and brewed tea to keep warm.

But Lebanese soldiers were visibly on high alert, deploying to new camouflage­d posts behind sandbags and inside abandoned homes.

About two dozen UN peacekeepe­rs stood in a long line, just ahead of the blue line demarcatin­g the frontier between the two countries technicall­y still at war.

Visible jitters

The scene highlights the palpable anxiety that any misstep could lead to a conflagrat­ion between Israel and Lebanon that no one seems to want.

Underscori­ng such jitters, shadowy figures appearing across the misty hills of the border village of Mays Al Jabal last weekend sparked panic, and Israeli soldiers fired in the air to warn a Lebanese military intelligen­ce patrol, according to Lebanese reports. Israel said it fired at Hezbollah members who came to the site to dismantle sensors installed to detect tunnels.

Israel’s tunnel search comes at a time when the civil war in neighbouri­ng Syria seems to be winding down. Hezbollah had sent hundreds of troops to Syria in 2013 to fight alongside the forces of ■ Syrian

Assad.

With Al Assad’s forces emerging victorious, attention now seems to be returning to the tense Israel-Lebanon border.

Israel said its troops have discovered at least three tunnels along the frontier — a tactic used by Hezbollah in previous wars — and called on the internatio­nal community to impose new sanctions on Hezbollah. The militant group has not commented on the Israeli operation or statements. President

Hariri’s retort

Bashar Al

Lebanese Prime Ministerde­signate Sa’ad Hariri said Thursday that neither Israel nor Lebanon wanted to go to war, but noted that Israel violates Lebanese airspace and internatio­nal waters on a regular basis.

He said the Lebanese army “will deal with this issue” after receiving a full report from the UN peacekeepi­ng force, but did not elaborate.

The peacekeepi­ng force, known as UNIFIL, has confirmed the presence of tunnels and said it is working with both sides to address the situation in line with UN Security Council resolution­s.

In southern Lebanon on Thursday, Lebanese army soldiers observed the frontier in Mays Al Jabal, taking photos of their Israeli counterpar­ts operating only a few metres away. At times, the Lebanese soldiers asked the young men to move back, away from the frontier.

In Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s warnings have raised suspicions that he is also using the tunnel operation as a diplomatic pressure card.

Netanyahu has called for more sanctions against Hezbollah. In a visit to the frontier last week, he warned that if Hezbollah tries to disrupt the search for tunnels, “it will be hit in a way it cannot even imagine.”

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