TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces have spent much of the last 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.
Marked by the deadly Hamas raid in Israel last year that sparked the war in Gaza, Israel says it wants to prevent a similar incursion across its northern border from starting.
The Israeli military has combed the dense scrub of southern Lebanon over the past two weeks, uncovering what it says are Hezbollah’s deep attack capabilities – evidenced by a tunnel system equipped with caches weapons and rocket launchers that Israel says pose a direct threat to neighboring communities. .
Israel’s war against the Iran-backed militant group extends far into Lebanon, and its airstrikes in recent weeks have killed more than 1,700 people, about a quarter of whom were women and children, authorities say local sanitary facilities. But its ground campaign has focused on a narrow patch of land just along the border, where Hezbollah has a long presence.
Hezbollah has deep ties to southern Lebanon
Hezbollah, which has called for the destruction of Israel, is the Arab world’s largest paramilitary force. It began firing rockets at Israel a day after the Hamas attack. After nearly a year of head-to-head fighting with Hezbollah, Israel launched its ground invasion into southern Lebanon on October 1 and has since sent thousands of troops into the rugged terrain.
Even as it continues to build up its forces, Israel says its invasion consists of “limited, localized and targeted ground raids” intended to destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure so that tens of thousands of displaced Israelis can return home. The fighting has also uprooted more than a million Lebanese over the past month.
Many residents of southern Lebanon support the group and benefit from its social influence. Although most fled the region months ago, they largely view the heavily armed Hezbollah as their defender, especially since the U.S.-backed Lebanese army does not have suitable weapons to protect them of any Israeli incursion.
This broad support allowed Hezbollah to establish “a military infrastructure for itself” in the villages, said Eva J. Koulouriotis, a political analyst specializing in the Middle East and Islamic militant groups. The Israeli army claims to have found weapons in houses and buildings in the villages.
Hezbollah has built a network of tunnels in several regions of Lebanon
With Israel’s air power far outpacing Hezbollah’s defenses, the militant group has turned to underground tunnels to evade Israeli drones and planes. Experts say Hezbollah’s tunnels are not limited to the south.
“It’s a land of tunnels,” said Tal Beeri, who studies Hezbollah as research director at the Alma Research and Education Center, a think tank focused on northern Israel’s security .
Koulouriotis said tunnels extend beneath Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah’s command and control is located and where it keeps a stockpile of strategic missiles. She added that the group also maintains tunnels along the border with Syria, which it uses to smuggle weapons and other supplies from Iran to Lebanon.
Southern Lebanon is where Hezbollah maintains tunnels to store missiles – and where it can launch them from, Koulouriotis said. Some of the more than 50 Israelis killed by Hezbollah over the past year were hit by anti-tank missiles.
Unlike the tunnels dug by Hamas in Gaza’s sandy coastal area, Hezbollah’s tunnels in southern Lebanon were dug into solid rock, a feat that likely required time, money, machinery and expertise.
An Israeli military official said that using previous intelligence, Israel had found “hundreds and hundreds” of underground positions, many of which could accommodate around 10 fighters and were stocked with rations. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military rules, said troops were blowing up discovered tunnels or using cement to render them unusable.
The group used tunnels during Israel’s month-long war with Hezbollah in 2006, but the network has since expanded, although a United Nations ceasefire resolution forced Lebanese forces and UN forces to keep Hezbollah fighters away from 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 pass through. Hezbollah members were also seen riding motorcycles inside the lighted 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 tunnels could hamper Israel’s mission
Israeli troops are crossing southern Lebanon using tanks and engineering equipment, and air and ground forces have struck thousands of targets in the region since the invasion began.
The army recently said it had discovered a cross-border tunnel that extended just a few meters into Israel, but which did not have an opening. Israel also exposed a tunnel shaft located about 100 meters from a U.N. peacekeeping post, although the precise purpose of the tunnel was unclear.
Israel says the tunnels are stocked with supplies and weapons and are equipped with lighting, ventilation and sometimes plumbing, indicating they could be used for long stays. He claims to have arrested several Hezbollah fighters who were hiding there, including three on Tuesday who were allegedly 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 believed Hezbollah’s tunnels were preventing Israel from making major progress. He compared this achievement to the war in Gaza, where Hamas used its tunnels to torment Israeli forces and stage insurgency-style attacks.
Israeli authorities insist on the success of the mission in Lebanon. It claims to have killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters since the ground operation in Lebanon began, although at least 15 Israeli soldiers have been killed during that period.
Israel has already encountered Hezbollah tunnels. In 2018, Israel launched an operation aimed at destroying what are believed to be attack tunnels running through Israeli territory. Beeri said six tunnels had been discovered, including one measuring 1 kilometer (1,000 yards) long and 80 meters (87 yards) deep, crossing about 50 meters (yards) into Israel.
Israel believes Hezbollah was planning an October 7-style invasion
For Israel, the tunnels are proof that Hezbollah planned what Israel considers a bloody offensive against northern communities.
“Hezbollah has openly stated that it plans to carry out its own massacre on October 7 on Israel’s northern border, on an even larger scale,” Israeli military spokesman Rear said. Admiral Daniel Hagari declared the day the troops entered Lebanon.
Israel has not provided evidence that such an attack was imminent, but expressed fear that such an attack could 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 his speeches that Hezbollah could launch an attack on northern Israel.
In May 2023, just months before the Hamas attack, Hezbollah staged a mock incursion into northern Israel with rifle-wielding militants on motorcycles bursting through a fake border fence adorned with Israeli flags.
Hezbollah officials have sometimes presented calls for an attack on Israel as a defensive measure to take in wartime.
___
Mroue reported from Beirut.
