The Israeli military has blown up Hezbollah’s tunnel system beneath the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announce in a joint statement.
They say that the IDF used 700 tons of explosives to demolish the subterranean facility.
The demolition was planned for an earlier date but was postponed because of the ceasefire. Netanyahu and Katz say the destruction of the tunnel system at this time comes in response to Hezbollah’s “blatant” violation of the ceasefire agreement yesterday, by targeting an unmanned bulldozer with an explosive drone.
The tunnel, which journalists toured earlier this month, served as a “central part of the Hezbollah’s invasion plan against the Galilee communities,” the statement says.
“The State of Israel will not accept any violation of the ceasefire agreement. Any attempt by Hezbollah to harm IDF troops or Israeli civilians will be met with a severe and powerful response that will exact a heavy price from the terrorist organization,”. Netanyahu and Katz say, adding that the IDF “will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon and will continue to destroy all terror infrastructure in order to prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to restore its capabilities.”
The IDF in its own statement says it demolished “several key underground routes in the Beaufort Ridge area.”
“Over the past several weeks, IDF troops completed securing the Beaufort Ridge area, while taking control of and clearing the underground infrastructure and preparing it for destruction,” the military says.
The military had already on July 13 demolished a tunnel that was part of the Beaufort Ridge area underground system. With the latest demolition, most of the tunnel network in the area has been destroyed.
The IDF is also still monitoring a major Hezbollah tunnel system beneath the Ali Taher ridge, where dozens of operatives are still believed to be holed up.
TOI
