Israel launches operation to cut off Hezbollah infiltration tunnels
- by Jerome Frank
- in World News
- — Dec 4, 2018
The Israeli army said it launched an operation dubbed "Northern Shield" to destroy "attack tunnels" it accused the Iran-backed Lebanese militia of digging under the border.
It announced the operation on Twitter on Tuesday, saying that a number of areas close to Lebanon's border, including Metula, had been declared a closed military zone.
"The situation in UNIFIL's area of operation remains calm", Malene Jensen, a spokeswoman for the United Nations mission which monitors the border region, said in a statement.
"The digging of the cross-border attack tunnels that the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has discovered, before the attack tunnels became operational and posed an imminent threat to the safety of Israeli civilians, constitutes a flagrant and severe violation of Israeli sovereignty", the military said.
Israeli officials have long warned the threat posed by Gaza's Hamas rulers pales in comparison to that of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah - a heavily-armed mini-army with valuable combat experience and an arsenal of some 150,000 rockets that can reach almost every part of Israel.
Meanwhile, Israel has spent years attempting to destroy a network of tunnels from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
Operation "Northern Shield", as it's been called, is a major, multi-branch effort of the Israeli Defense Forces involving the Intelligence Branch, the Combat Engineering Corps and the Administration for the Development of Weapons and Infrastructure.
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He said the Israeli operation to counter the tunnels would be inside Israel, and would not cross the border.
This picture taken on December 4, 2018 from the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila shows a view of Israeli machinery operating behind the border wall in Israel (R).
In a statement Tuesday carried by the state-run National News Agency, a UNIFIL official said the situation in the area was calm. An Israeli military source said the operation might take weeks to complete.
Tensions are high between Israel and Hezbollah, which fought a month-long war in 2006.
There have been outbreaks of violence between Israel and Hezbollah across the Israel-Lebanon border, which is heavily fortified.
"There is no immediate threat to Israeli citizens", Conricus said of the Lebanese front, noting that while the army has enhanced its presence in the north, it has not summoned reserve soldiers.
According to Conricus, the tunnels were part of Hezbollah's 2012 plan to "shift the battlefield to Israel" and "conquer the Galilee" in a future conflict by infiltrating its territory.
