Israeli army says destroyed huge Hezbollah tunnel network in south Lebanon
The Israeli military said on Tuesday it found and destroyed a large Hezbollah tunnel network used by elite fighters in south Lebanon, near Israel's northern border.
Israel has been fighting Hezbollah since early March, sending troops into south Lebanon to battle the Iran-backed group after it launched rockets at Israeli territory, with the violence ongoing despite a shaky April 17 ceasefire.
Troops found "two Hezbollah terror tunnels, constructed over approximately a decade" that stretched for some two kilometers (1.2 miles) underground and were connected to firing positions directed at Israel, an army statement said.
Located in the Qantara area, Israeli troops used "over 450 tons of explosives" to demolish them, it said.
An Israeli military source described it as a "massive underground military installation" comprising an 800-meter tunnel and a second which ran for 1.2 kilometers, used as "an assembly area" for Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces.
He said it was "designed, sponsored and paid for by Iran" for the purpose of "raiding Israeli communities along the border".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would keep targeting Hezbollah's infrastructure.
"Today we blew up a huge Hezbollah terror tunnel. We are destroying their terror infrastructure, we are killing many dozens of their terrorists -- and we're not done yet," he said in a pre-recorded video.
In a statement, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the army has been instructed to destroy any Hezbollah infrastructure it finds in southern Lebanon “just like in Gaza.”
Source: Agence France Presse, Associated Press
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