ZCZC
BFF-24
ISRAEL-LEBANON-HEZBOLLAH-CONFLICT
Israel says all Hezbollah cross-border tunnels found
JERUSALEM, Jan 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Israel said Sunday it had uncovered all
cross-border attack tunnels dug by Hezbollah from Lebanon and will bring its
operation to find and destroy them to an end after more than a month.
The operation begun on December 4 had raised concerns that Hezbollah, the
Lebanon-based Shiite group and enemy of Israel, would respond and spark a new
conflict between them, but the border has remained calm throughout.
An Israeli military spokesman declined to say how many tunnels had been
discovered in total, but the army has announced six since the operation was
launched.
The last tunnel was exposed on Saturday, the army said.
“We have found yet another Hezbollah cross-border attack tunnel from
Lebanon to Israel,” Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told reporters.
“According to our intelligence and our assessment of the situation there
are no longer any cross-border attack tunnels from Lebanon into Israel.”
The latest tunnel began in the Lebanese village of Ramyeh, some 800 metres
(yards) away from Israel, the army said.
It reached a few dozen metres into Israel, and at 55 metres underground
was the deepest as well as “the longest and most detailed” of all the tunnels
the army exposed, Conricus said.
The army said its discovery marked the end of the operation that it called
“Northern Shield” and that the last tunnel will be destroyed in the coming
days. – ‘Achieved the goal’ –
The tunnels are being destroyed either with explosives or by filling them
with a cement-like material to make them unusable.
“We have achieved the goal (to expose and destroy the tunnels from
Lebanon) which we set out to achieve at the beginning,” Conricus said.
Conricus said there were no more tunnels reaching Israel from Lebanon but
the army was still monitoring “facilities” being dug by Hezbollah inside
Lebanese territory.
He also reiterated that Israel holds the Lebanese government accountable
“for any act of violence or violation of 1701,” the UN resolution that ended
the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, was informed of the latest
tunnel, Conricus said.
Israel alleges Hezbollah had planned to use the tunnels to kidnap or kill
its civilians or soldiers, and to seize a slice of Israeli territory in the
event of any hostilities. It has said, however, that they were not yet
operational.
A month-long war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah killed more than
1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly
soldiers.
Israel says all anti-tunnel operations have taken place within its
territory, and the highly publicised mission has gone ahead without drawing a
military response from Hezbollah.
The announcement that the operation is ending comes as military chief of
staff Gadi Eisenkot steps down at the end of his term.
Israeli analysts see the operation as one of Eisenkot’s important
achievements.
BSS/AFP/RY/1552 hrs