Hezbollah tunnel clip offers glimpse into an underground far more advanced than Gaza’s
Yearslong project of ‘massive proportions’ lets missile-laden trucks travel deep in Lebanon, has more strategic value than Hamas’s underground footpaths, say Israeli observers
The tunnel Hezbollah showed in a propaganda video last week gave a glimpse of a yearslong “tunneling project of massive proportions” that is more expansive, sophisticated and threatening than Hamas’s underground network in Gaza, according to Israeli analysis.
The footage showed Hezbollah’s tunnel to be large enough for storing missiles and transporting them on trucks, Channel 12 reported. Though Hamas has some tunnels large enough for middle-sized vehicles, Gaza’s underground tunnel network serves mainly as a tactical footway for the terror group’s fighters, not as a strategic throughway for weapons.
While it was unclear where Hezbollah’s tunnel was located, or how many there are like it, Channel 12 Arab affairs analyst Ohad Hemo opined that it was probably “deep inside Lebanon.”
Former military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman said that each of the 160 Shiite villages in south Lebanon was likely equipped with an underground combat position.
Hayman, who directs the Institute for National Security Studies, said that although Hezbollah considers its tunnels to be secure, “Israel has intelligence capabilities and a capability for underground detections, developed in recent years, which is considered to be the most advanced tactically in the world.”
Amid fears of war in Lebanon, Hezbollah on Friday published a highly edited video showing an underground missile facility called Imad 4. The footage showed missile-laden trucks driving around the facility, as well as launching positions for projectiles. An official from the Iran-backed terror group said the missiles in the video have a range of about 140 kilometers (86 miles), capable of reaching deep inside Israel.
حزب الله : عماد 4 الصواريخ الدقيقة pic.twitter.com/4WycSBK7KO
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According to Hemo, the tunnel was reminiscent of tunnels, replete with missiles and drones, that are known to exist in Iran. Those tunnels are apparently meant to give the Islamic Republic underground positions to fire at Israel in wartime, Hemo said.
He said that like Hamas, Hezbollah had also built tunnels where its top officials could take shelter. However, he added, Hezbollah’s combat doctrine is not as dependent on underground tunnels as Hamas’s.
Hezbollah has also tunneled directly into Israel, but those tactical tunnels were exposed and destroyed by the IDF in the January 2019 Operation Northern Shield, according to Tal Beeri, an expert on underground warfare.
Beeri said in an interview with The Times of Israel in January that Hezbollah’s tunnel network was cumulatively several hundreds of kilometers long.
In a research paper, Beeri assessed the route of a 45-kilometer (28-mile) long “attack tunnel” in southern Lebanon. He told The Times of Israel that North Korea, which has cooperated with Hezbollah on tunneling for some four decades, was also involved in the group’s latest tunneling efforts.
Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the Lebanese border on a near-daily basis since October 8, a day after the war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s thousands-strong rampage through southern Israel that killed nearly 1,200 people and saw 251 kidnapped.
Hezbollah says its attacks are meant to support Gaza amid the war there.
The terror group has threatened all-out war against Israel in response to the July 30 killing of Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s military leader, in an airstrike on its south Beirut stronghold. The airstrike came three days after a Hezbollah rocket killed 12 children in the Golan Heights.
Hours after Shukr’s killing, an explosion in Tehran killed Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh. Iran has threatened to exact “harsh punishment” on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied being behind the blast.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
