Hundreds of kilometers
Hezbollah is said to have a more complex tunnel network than Hamas
January 3, 2024, 8:17 a.m
Since the Gaza war, the Lebanese Hezbollah has engaged in almost daily firefights with the Israeli army in the border area. Another threat to Israel is the militia’s tunnels. These are “more sophisticated” than those of Hamas, explains an expert.
According to a media report, the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon is said to have a more sophisticated tunnel system than the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The underground routes ran hundreds of kilometers in southern Lebanon all the way to the border with Israel, the Times of Israel newspaper reported, citing intelligence expert Tal Beeri. The head of the Alma Research and Education Center, which deals with security issues on Israel’s northern border, says he has been researching the Iranian-backed Shiite militia’s tunnel network in Lebanon for years based on publicly available information.
In 2018, Israel’s army found and destroyed a Hezbollah “cross-border attack tunnel” under the Israeli-Lebanese border during Operation Northern Shield. “This is the first tunnel we found, (…) after that we will turn to other tunnels, we know they exist,” a spokesman said at the time. There are tunnels that Hezbollah could also use to launch precision weapons, Beeri told the newspaper. The tunnel system “is more sophisticated” than Hamas’s. Hezbollah has ties to Hamas, but is considered much more powerful.
Israel’s army has been waging war against the terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip since the massacre by Hamas and other groups in Israel on October 7th. Hamas uses its tunnel network for this purpose, in which, according to Israel, many of the terrorists are hiding and also holding hostages from Israel. Israel’s army says it has already uncovered and destroyed some of the extensive tunnels. As the situation on the border with Lebanon worsens, Hezbollah’s tunnels are now being discussed again, the newspaper reported.
Hamas deputy killed in Lebanon
On Tuesday, Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri was killed in a drone attack in the Lebanese capital Beirut. The radical Islamic Hamas radio station Al-Aqsa and the Lebanese broadcaster Majadin confirmed information from security circles that al-Aruri was killed in an Israeli attack on a Hamas office in southern Beirut. While Israel’s military declined to comment on reports of a targeted killing of Saleh al-Aruri, the Hamas-allied Hezbollah militia vowed to retaliate.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war after the Hamas massacre in Israel, there have been repeated confrontations between Israel’s army and Hezbollah in the Israeli-Lebanese border region. The militia exchanges fire with Israeli soldiers almost every day. There were deaths on both sides. There are fears that the killing of al-Aruri could now escalate the conflict. There could be indications of this this Wednesday – in a speech planned for the evening by Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah.