The inside of the Hezbollah tunnel
The Israeli army on Tuesday announced the destruction of a tunnel dug by Hezbollah militants from southern Lebanon into Israel, The Time of Israel reports.
“We discovered and destroyed a tunnel approximately 25 metres long that crossed the border and penetrated about 10 metres into Israeli territory,” said army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari in a televised statement.
According to him, the tunnel began in the Lebanese village of Marwahin and stretched to the Israeli settlement of Zarit. Israel launched a ground operation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on 30 September, following an intense campaign of strikes and bombing on militant positions in southern Lebanon, Beirut and the Bekaa Valley in the east.
Israeli soldiers continue to search for other tunnels along the border with Lebanon, Hagari added.
In addition, on Monday, the Israeli Air Force conducted “massive strikes” on Hezbollah’s “extensive network of infrastructure and underground command posts”, which were created to attack Israeli forces and plan attacks on northern Israeli cities.
The purpose of these Israeli military operations is to return home about 60,000 Israelis who were forced to leave their homes due to daily rocket attacks by Hezbollah over the past year.