Israel targets Hezbollah tunnels to block attacks
THE Israeli military has launched an operation meant to “expose and thwart” tunnels built by the Hezbollah militant group and stretching from Lebanon into northern Israel.
The military says the tunnels are not operational and that its work to expose them, which began yesterday, was taking place in Israeli territory.
Officers did not disclose how many tunnels snake into Israeli territory from Lebanon or how long the operation would last.
Israel views the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its vast weapons cache as a major threat. The two fought an inconclusive, month-long war in 2006.
The Israeli operation comes hours after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a last-minute trip to Brussels to meet US secretary of state Mike Pompeo.
Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said: “We see Hezbollah’s activities as a flagrant and blatant violation of Israeli sovereignty.
“This activity is another example of the negative effects of Iranian entrenchment in the region.”
Israel has spent years attempting to tackle a network of tunnels from the Gaza Strip into Israel and has used a variety of methods to destroy tunnels and prevent them from being rebuilt.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops and military intelligence agents, along with UN peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon, were observing the border.
Israel has been using bulldozers and other large machinery to build a massive wall along its northern border, saying the barrier is needed to protect civilians from Hezbollah attacks.
While the construction has prompted complaints from the Lebanese army, Hezbollah has not responded, an indication it could remain restrained amid the new operation.
Israel, meanwhile, gave no special orders to residents of the northern parts of the country.
The existence of the tunnels did not appear to have surprised Israel. Lt Col Conricus said Hezbollah has been developing an offensive plan against Israel that would “shift the battleground into Israel”.
The group would use firepower and ground units and “the surprise component of that plan was supposed to be tunnels that would allow infiltrators into Israel”.