The Hezbollah terror organization is digging tunnels from Lebanon into northern Israel, much like those dug by Hamas into southern Israel, the Lebanese daily Al-Safir, which is known for its support for Hezbollah, reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper published a front- page article celebrating “Liberation Day” and marking the 16th anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from South Lebanon, in which it analyzed Hezbollah’s current situation, as it continues to fight alongside Basher Al-Assad’s forces in Syria.
The article says that alongside its bloody battle in Syria, where it has incurred heavy losses, Hezbollah is continuing its activities against Israel. Hezbollah terrorists “work day and night” along the Israeli border, “conducting observations, preparing, and digging tunnels that cause the settlers and enemy soldiers to lose sleep,” the article says, according to a translation by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
It also states that in fighting “tafkiri organizations,” rival Sunni terror organization such as the Islamic State (ISIS), Hezbollah has encountered an enemy that excavates tunnels, after becoming accustomed to being the only one digging them.
In fact, it was Hezbollah that taught other terror organization, particularly Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the tunnel doctrine, the article says.
Confirming the seriousness of this issue, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot said in January that Israel’s most formidable military threat is Hezbollah.
There have been other previous reports of Hezbollah terror-tunnel operations, its military build-up, its acquisition of a large rocket arsenal and even of its seeking of chemical weapons.
The IDF has been preparing for another round of violence with Hezbollah since the conclusion of the Second Lebanon War a decade ago in the summer of 2006.
Speaking to foreign journalists in April, Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, Israel’s deputy chief of staff, said that any future attack by Hezbollah on Israel will unleash “devastating” damage on Lebanon.
Golan said any future war will be “much harsher” than anything experienced in the past 20 years.
“In any future crisis, they are not going to see a small war in Lebanon. It’s going to be decisive. It’s going to be full-scale war,” he said.
“That could create devastating damage to Lebanon,” including in civilian areas, where Hezbollah hides it arsenal and operates. “There is no other way to take out this threat without … creating large damage to the Lebanese infrastructure, to Lebanese houses and other civilian facilities.”
By: Max Gelber, United with Israel