Israel unearths Hezbollah's web of tunnels in southern Lebanon
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[October 19, 2024]
By TIA GOLDENBERG and BASSEM MROUE
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces have spent much of the past year
destroying Hamas’ vast underground network in Gaza. They are now focused
on dismantling tunnels and other hideouts belonging to Hezbollah
militants in southern Lebanon.
Scarred by Hamas’ deadly raid into Israel last year that sparked the war
in Gaza, Israel says it aims to prevent a similar incursion across its
northern border from ever getting off the ground.
The Israeli military has combed through the dense brush of southern
Lebanon for the past two weeks, uncovering what it says are Hezbollah’s
deep attack capabilities — highlighted by a tunnel system equipped with
weapons caches and rocket launchers that Israel says pose a direct
threat to nearby communities.
Israel’s war against the Iran-backed militant group stretches far inside
Lebanon, and its airstrikes in recent weeks have killed more than 1,700
people, about a quarter of whom were women and children, according to
local health authorities. But its ground campaign has centered on a
narrow patch of land just along the border, where Hezbollah has had a
longstanding presence.
Hezbollah has deep ties to southern Lebanon
Hezbollah, which has called for Israel’s destruction, is the Arab
world’s most significant paramilitary force. It began firing rockets
into Israel a day after Hamas' attack. After nearly a year of
tit-for-tat fighting with Hezbollah, Israel launched its ground invasion
into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1 and has since sent thousands of troops
into the rugged terrain.
Even as it continues to bolster its forces, Israel says its invasion
consists of “limited, localized and targeted ground raids” that are
meant to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure so that tens of thousands of
displaced Israelis can return home. The fighting also has uprooted more
than 1 million Lebanese in the past month.
Many residents of southern Lebanon are supporters of the group and
benefit from its social outreach. Though most fled the area months ago,
they widely see the heavily armed Hezbollah as their defender,
especially as the U.S.-backed Lebanese army does not have suitable
weapons to protect them from any Israeli incursion.
That broad support has allowed Hezbollah to establish “a military
infrastructure for itself” within the villages, said Eva J. Koulouriotis,
a political analyst specialized in the Middle East and Islamic militant
groups. The Israeli military says it has found weapons within homes and
buildings in the villages.
Hezbollah built a network of tunnels in multiple areas of Lebanon
With Israel’s air power far outstripping Hezbollah’s defenses, the
militant group has turned to underground tunnels as a way to elude
Israeli drones and jets. Experts say Hezbollah's tunnels are not limited
to the south.
“It’s a land of tunnels,” said Tal Beeri, who studies Hezbollah as
director of research at The Alma Research and Education Center, a think
tank with a focus on northern Israel’s security.
Koulouriotis said tunnels stretch under the southern suburbs of Beirut,
where Hezbollah's command and control are located and where it keeps a
stockpile of strategic missiles. She said the group also maintains
tunnels along the border with Syria, which it uses to smuggle weapons
and other supplies from Iran into Lebanon.
Southern Lebanon is where Hezbollah maintains tunnels to store missiles
— and from where it can launch them, Koulouriotis said. Some of the more
than 50 Israelis killed by Hezbollah over the past year were hit by
anti-tank missiles.
In contrast to the tunnels dug out by Hamas in the sandy coastal terrain
of Gaza, Hezbollah's tunnels in southern Lebanon were carved into solid
rock, a feat that likely required time, money, machinery and expertise.
An Israeli military official said that using prior intelligence, Israel
had found “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds” of underground positions,
many of which could hold about ten fighters and were stocked with
rations. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with
military rules, said troops were blowing up the tunnels found or using
cement to make them unusable.
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Israeli soldiers display what they say is an entrance to a Hezbollah
tunnel found during their ground operation in southern Lebanon, near
the border with Israel, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil)
The group used tunnels during the monthlong 2006 Israel-Hezbollah
war, but the network has been expanded since, even as a United
Nations cease-fire resolution compelled Lebanese and U.N. forces to
keep Hezbollah fighters out of the south.
In mid-August, Hezbollah released a video showing what appeared to
be a cavernous underground tunnel large enough for trucks loaded
with missiles to drive through. Hezbollah operatives were also seen
riding motorcycles inside the illuminated tunnel, named Imad-4 after
the group’s late military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed
in Syria in 2008 in an explosion blamed on Israel.
Hezbollah's tunnels could be hindering Israel's mission
Israeli troops are pushing through southern Lebanon using tanks and
engineering equipment, and air and ground forces have struck
thousands of targets in the area since the invasion began.
The military recently said it found one cross-border tunnel that
stretched just a few meters into Israel but did not have an opening.
Israel also exposed a tunnel shaft that was located about 100 meters
(yards) from a U.N. peacekeepers ’ post, although it wasn't clear
what the precise purpose of that tunnel was.
Israel says the tunnels are stocked with supplies and weapons and
are outfitted with lighting, ventilation and sometimes plumbing,
indicating they could be used for long stays. It says it has
arrested several Hezbollah fighters hiding inside, including three
on Tuesday who were said to have been found armed. The Israeli
military official said many Hezbollah fighters appear to have
withdrawn from the area.
Lebanese military expert, Naji Malaeb, a retired brigadier general,
said he assessed that Hezbollah’s tunnels were preventing Israel
from making major gains. He compared that achievement to the war in
Gaza, where Hamas has used its tunnels to bedevil Israeli forces and
stage insurgency-like attacks.
Israeli authorities insist the mission in Lebanon is succeeding. It
says it has killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters since the ground
operation in Lebanon began, though at least 15 Israeli soldiers have
been killed during that time.
Israel has encountered Hezbollah’s tunnels before. In 2018, Israel
launched an operation to destroy what is said were attack tunnels
that crossed into Israeli territory. Beeri said that six tunnels
were discovered, including one that was 1 kilometer (1,000 yards)
long and 80 meters (87 yards) deep, crossing some 50 meters (yards)
into Israel.
Israel believes Hezbollah was planning an Oct. 7-style invasion
For Israel, the tunnels are evidence that Hezbollah planned what
Israel says would be a bloody offensive against communities in the
north.
“Hezbollah has openly declared that it plans to carry out its own
Oct. 7 massacre on Israel’s northern border, on an even larger
scale,” Israeli military spokesman Rear. Adm. Daniel Hagari said the
day troops entered Lebanon.
Israel has not released evidence that any such attack was imminent
but has expressed concern that one might be launched once residents
return.
Former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel
last month while in an underground bunker, had signaled in speeches
that Hezbollah could launch an attack on northern Israel.
In May 2023, just months before Hamas’ attack, Hezbollah staged a
simulation of an incursion into northern Israel with rifle-toting
militants on motorcycles bursting through a mock border fence
bedecked with Israeli flags.
Hezbollah officials have at times framed calls for an attack against
Israel as a defensive measure that would be taken in times of war.
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Mroue reported from Beirut.
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