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To Counter Hezbollah, Israel Begins Anti-Tunnel Effort on Lebanon Border Israel Moves to Seal Hezbollah Tunnels at Lebanon Border
(about 9 hours later)
JERUSALEM — Israel started a military operation on Tuesday to expose and thwart offensive tunnels Hezbollah had been building across the Lebanese border, the military said, the first time that Israel has taken open action to combat underground passageways in the already volatile north. JERUSALEM — The Israeli military moved Tuesday to block tunnels it said Hezbollah has been building under the Lebanese border, saying it wanted “to nip them in the bud” before they posed a threat to Israeli civilians.
The effort, called Operation Northern Shield, was aimed at an unspecified number of tunnels in the area of Metula, said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces. Israeli officials cast the operation as part of a broader strategy to curb Iranian influence in the region and, in particular, Tehran’s efforts to upgrade the weaponry of Hezbollah, Israel’s archenemy across the Lebanese frontier.
None of the tunnels were ready to be used, he said, and the army was neither asking civilians in the area to evacuate nor calling up reserves. But it declared an area around Metula, in the northernmost reaches of the Galilee panhandle, a closed military zone and said it had “enhanced its presence and readiness” in the north and was “prepared for various scenarios.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said the early stages of the military effort, called Operation Northern Shield, had already been successful. “Whoever tries to harm the state of Israel will pay a heavy price,” he said in a statement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the early stages of the operation had already proven successful. The operation comes as Mr. Netanyahu faces growing legal troubles. On Sunday, the Israeli police recommended that he be indicted on bribery, fraud and other charges — the third in a series of corruption cases against him this year.
“Whoever tries to harm the state of Israel will pay a heavy price,” he said in a statement. He added that Israel would continue to act, “openly and covertly, to ensure the security of Israel.” Mr. Netanyahu is also leading an increasingly fragile government. His coalition has shrunk, in part because of accusations that he has not acted strongly enough against Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza.
Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, the chief military spokesman, said Israel was prepared for a “broad operation over several weeks.” It was expected to extend beyond the Metula area, along the border. Some critics immediately began speculating about whether the military moves at the Lebanese border had been timed to distract from the prime minister’s legal woes and to burnish his image.
The military also warned Hezbollah and soldiers of the Lebanese Army to stay away from the tunnels, saying their lives were in danger, though Israeli officials emphasized that for now the operation was taking place on the Israeli side of the border. Omer Barlev, an opposition legislator from the center-left Zionist Union, said the military action was of the utmost importance, but added, “Parallel to that, it is clear that it constitutes a justification for Netanyahu, who folded before Hamas only a few weeks ago.”
The military operation comes as Mr. Netanyahu faces growing legal troubles. On Sunday, the Israeli police recommended that he be indicted on bribery, fraud and other charges in a case involving accusations he traded regulatory favors for fawning news coverage — the third, and potentially the most damaging, in a series of corruption cases against him this year. The army and some security experts worked quickly to try to dispel the notion that the timing was politically motivated.
Some critics of Mr. Netanyahu immediately began speculating whether the operation had been timed as a distraction from his legal woes and to burnish his image as Israel’s security czar. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said the army’s general staff had been preparing the operation for more than a year and a half. It is being conducted now, he said, because the tunnels have crossed the border but are not yet fully operational.
But the army and some security experts quickly worked to dispel the notion that the timing was politically motivated. Colonel Conricus said the army’s general staff had been preparing the operation for more than a year and a half. The timing, he said, had to do with the fact that the tunnels had crossed the border but were not yet fully operational. The idea, he said, was “to nip them in the bud” before they posed an immediate threat to Israeli civilians. The chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, said the operation was scheduled and approved by the cabinet nearly a month ago, on Nov. 7.
With the winding down of the civil war in neighboring Syria, Israel appears to have increasingly shifted its focus to Lebanon. Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite organization backed by Iran, has been fighting for years against insurgent groups in Syria to defend the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, and Israel has been working intensively to prevent Iran’s efforts to entrench itself in Syria. The military did not say precisely what it would do to close the tunnels. In the past, it has demolished or sealed those built for cross-border attacks against Israel from Gaza. It also did not say how many tunnels it was trying to put out of commission.
But Israel has also been warning in recent months of Iranian efforts to strengthen Hezbollah in Lebanon, making a future conflagration seem inevitable. But hours into the military operation, the army announced that it had exposed and was preparing to neutralize a tunnel running about 130 feet into Israeli territory from under a house in the Lebanese village of Kela.
While Israeli experts said the action against the tunnels could lead to an escalation, it was not immediately clear if, or how, Hezbollah would respond. None of the tunnels from Lebanon were ready to be used, Colonel Conricus said, and the army neither asked civilians in the area to evacuate nor called up a significant number of reserves. But it did declare an area in the northeast a closed military zone, and said it had “enhanced its presence and readiness” and was “prepared for various scenarios.”
“Now the ball is in the Hezbollah court,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser and retired general. “They can react and the reaction to their reaction might be devastating,” he told reporters on Tuesday, in an apparent effort to deter Hezbollah. Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, the chief military spokesman, said Israel was prepared for a “broad operation over several weeks.” It was expected to extend along the border, beyond the current area of operations near the town of Metula.
Mr. Amidror said the operation was occurring now because the technological, operational and intelligence efforts were complete and Israel had worked to lay the diplomatic groundwork. Though Israeli officials emphasized that for now the operation was taking place on the Israeli side of the border, the military warned members of Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army to stay away from the tunnels, saying their lives were in danger. And they would not rule out taking action across the lines at a later stage.
There appeared to be no immediate response to the Israeli operation on the Lebanese side of the border. The state-run National News agency said the border area was calm and that United Nations monitors were running patrols in the area to keep watch on the situation. Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite organization, has been fighting for years against insurgent groups in Syria to defend the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. Israel has been working intensively to prevent Iran’s efforts to entrench itself in Syria.
There was no official comment from Hezbollah. But last year, its leader, Hassan Nasrallah suggested that Hezbollah fighters would try to infiltrate Israel in a future conflict, staying that there would be “no place that is out of reach of the rockets of the resistance or the boots of the resistance fighters.” But in recent months, Israel has also been warning of Iranian efforts to strengthen Hezbollah in Lebanon, making an eventual confrontation there seem inevitable. Israeli experts said the action against the tunnels could lead to an escalation, though it was not immediately clear if, or how, Hezbollah would respond.
Israel has been building defensive obstacles along a roughly seven-mile stretch of its border with Lebanon since 2015, constructing fences, clearing vegetation and creating steep cliffs to deter invading forces. Those efforts are aimed at thwarting what Colonel Conricus said was Hezbollah’s goal of assuring that the next battlefield between Israel and Lebanon would be inside Israeli territory. “Now the ball is in the Hezbollah court,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser and retired general.
The operation came a day after Mr. Netanyahu met in Brussels with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss curbing Iranian aggression in the region. Mr. Netanyahu said he had updated Mr. Pompeo about the impending tunnel-clearing operation. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he said, “They can react — and the reaction to their reaction might be devastating.”
Israeli officials have accused Iran of helping Hezbollah build underground factories in Lebanon to upgrade the militant group’s arsenal of missiles, which experts said posed an even greater threat than the tunnels. In addition, Israeli news outlets have reported that Iran has been flying advanced weaponry directly to Beirut, bypassing overland routes through Syria that Israel has repeatedly bombed. There was no official comment from Hezbollah. But last year, its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, suggested that Hezbollah fighters would try to infiltrate Israel in a future conflict, saying there would be “no place that is out of reach of the rockets of the resistance or the boots of the resistance fighters.”
Mr. Amidror said the military operation was taking place now because the technological, operational and intelligence work was complete. He said Israel had also worked to lay the diplomatic groundwork.
There appeared to be no immediate response to the Israeli operation on the Lebanese side of the border. The state-run National News Agency said that the border area was calm and that United Nations monitors were running patrols in the area to keep watch on the situation.
Israel has been building defensive obstacles along a roughly seven-mile stretch of its border with Lebanon since 2015, constructing fences and creating steep cliffs to deter invading forces.
The tunnel operation came a day after Mr. Netanyahu met in Brussels with the United States secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to discuss curbing Iranian aggression in the region. Mr. Netanyahu said he had updated Mr. Pompeo about the impending tunnel-clearing work.
Israeli officials have accused Iran of helping Hezbollah build underground factories in Lebanon to upgrade the militant group’s arsenal of missiles, which experts say pose an even greater threat than the tunnels.
But Israel kept its plans for the tunnel operation, and even its knowledge of the existence of such cross-border tunnels, completely under wraps, taking Hezbollah and the Israeli public by surprise with Tuesday’s action.But Israel kept its plans for the tunnel operation, and even its knowledge of the existence of such cross-border tunnels, completely under wraps, taking Hezbollah and the Israeli public by surprise with Tuesday’s action.
The military said it had been gathering intelligence and developing operational and technological abilities to deal with the northern tunnels since 2014. Israel has been steadily detecting and destroying cross-border attack tunnels from the Palestinian territory of Gaza, in the south, for years. Israel said the Hezbollah tunnels were “a flagrant and severe violation of Israeli sovereignty” and a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which formalized the cease-fire that ended a devastating, monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.
Israel said the Hezbollah tunnels constituted “a flagrant and severe violation of Israeli sovereignty” and violated U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which formalized the cease-fire that ended a devastating, monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.
Mr. Netanyahu had hinted recently that Israel would soon embark on a military campaign of some sort, warning darkly that it would “require sacrifice.” The warning came in mid-November, when Mr. Netanyahu delivered a live, televised speech in which he urged his teetering coalition partners not to topple the government at what he called a complex time for national security. To do so, he said, would be “irresponsible.”Mr. Netanyahu had hinted recently that Israel would soon embark on a military campaign of some sort, warning darkly that it would “require sacrifice.” The warning came in mid-November, when Mr. Netanyahu delivered a live, televised speech in which he urged his teetering coalition partners not to topple the government at what he called a complex time for national security. To do so, he said, would be “irresponsible.”
The political crisis was precipitated by the resignation of the hard-line defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who cited the government’s lack of resolve in handling the latest conflict with Gaza, a botched spy mission by Israel that led to exchanges of rocket fire. Israel agreed to a cease-fire that brought a hasty, if inconclusive, end to that round of fighting in the south.
Mr. Netanyahu said at the time that Israel was “in the midst of battle,” and that he had “a clear plan.” He also announced that he was taking on the role of defense minister.
Hours into the military operation, the army announced it had exposed and was preparing to neutralize a tunnel running about 130 feet into Israeli territory from under a house in the Lebanese village of Kela.
Israel has long tried to draw international attention to what it says are Hezbollah’s efforts to build up its firepower in southern Lebanon, pointing to arms depots, rocket-launching sites and signs of tunnels in Shiite villages close to the border.Israel has long tried to draw international attention to what it says are Hezbollah’s efforts to build up its firepower in southern Lebanon, pointing to arms depots, rocket-launching sites and signs of tunnels in Shiite villages close to the border.
But Israel has never before revealed its knowledge of Hezbollah tunnels running into its territory, despite the complaints of Israelis living close to the northern border about strange sounds coming from underground, as if the Lebanese militants were digging beneath their homes. In the wake of the complaints the military began a drilling operation in early 2015. It denied finding anything in those specific areas at the time. Israelis living close to the border with Lebanon have complained about strange sounds coming from underground, as if the Lebanese militants were digging beneath their homes. In the wake of the complaints the military began a drilling operation in early 2015. It denied finding anything there at the time.