Lebanon’s president orders ‘close monitoring’ of Israeli anti-tunnel operation
UNIFIL boosts border patrols, Lebanese army mobilizes near border; Hezbollah accuses Netanyahu of fabricating crisis to distract from legal troubles
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun ordered his country’s armed forces and security agencies to “closely monitor” Israel’s operation against Hezbollah cross-border tunnels on Tuesday, as officials on both sides of the border sought to avoid escalation.
Aoun conducted phone calls throughout the day with the country’s top leaders, including prime minister-designate Saad Hariri, Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, and the military’s top commander, Gen. Joseph Aoun, the al-Nahar news site reported.
“During President Aoun’s phone calls, the situation was evaluated in light of the available information about the objectives of the Israeli operation and security agencies were asked to closely monitor the situation,” the report said, quoting the official National News Agency.
IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus announced the launch of Operation Northern Shield earlier Tuesday, saying “a number of tunnels” have penetrated Israeli territory and forces were working on the Israeli side of the frontier to destroy them.
The army said the operation was taking place in Israeli territory. An IDF spokesman, questioned by Army Radio about whether forces planned on crossing the border fence with Lebanon, responded by saying only that the campaign would expand in the coming days.
The Lebanese Armed Forces went on high alert in southern Lebanon after the announcement, a security official told al-Nahar.
A Lebanese military official told The Associated Press that Lebanese troops and military intelligence agents, along with UN peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon, were observing the border. On its Twitter account, the Lebanese army said its forces were “closely” following developments and were “totally prepared to confront any sudden occurrence.”
UN peacekeepers also said they had increased patrols along the Lebanese-Israeli border. “The overall situation in UNIFIL’s area of operation remains calm,” Joumana Sayegh, a spokeswoman for the UN mission that monitors the border region, said in a statement.
“UNIFIL is working with all interlocutors in order to maintain the overall stability,” she said, adding, “UNIFIL peacekeepers have further increased their patrolling along the Blue Line, together with the Lebanese Armed Forces.”
For its part, the Hezbollah terror group has remained largely quiet. It accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of launching the military operation along the Lebanese border in order to distract from his domestic woes.
A Hezbollah official told al-Nahar that Netanyahu was “in crisis” and had manufactured the confrontation in order to distract from his legal and political troubles.
“Netanyahu is in a jam because of [his government’s] crisis and is tilting at windmills,” the unnamed official told the Lebanese outlet, referencing the literary character Don Quixote.
Earlier this week the Israel Police recommended indicting Netanyahu on corruption charges, including bribery and breach of trust. The development came at a time when Netanyahu’s government had been left with a narrow majority of just 61 Knesset seats in the 120-seat Israeli legislature following the resignation last month of defense minister Avigdor Liberman and the withdrawal of his Yisrael Beytenu party from the coalition. Earlier this year, police recommended that Netanyahu be charged with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in two other corruption cases.
Al-Nahar quoted Hezbollah propaganda outfit War Media as saying that Lebanese border villages were not preparing for a wider outbreak of hostilities.
“The Lebanese villages across from the border are maintaining a normal situation, with the Lebanese army mobilizing, and members of UNIFIL to observe and follow the work on the other side of the border,” the report said.
The IDF released a photograph and map of what it said was a tunnel it had uncovered leading from Kafr Kila into Israel.
A Hezbollah-affiliated news outlet released a number of photographs of Israeli troops and engineering vehicles along the border, apparently taking part in the newly launched operation to destroy the Lebanese terror group’s cross-border attack tunnels.
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The photographs appeared to have been taken from watchtowers along the Israeli-Lebanese border, which are meant to be used solely by the Lebanese Armed Forces.
The Israeli military has long accused the Lebanese army of cooperating with the powerful Iran-backed terror group.
Additional IDF troops were deployed to northern Israel as a precaution against potential attacks by Hezbollah, but no reservists were called up. A government official said the operation would likely take weeks.
Israel has long warned that Hezbollah planned to conduct cross-border raids in any future conflict, with the specific goal of attacking and conquering a civilian town near the border. Northern residents have raised fears in recent years of attack tunnels being dug under the border, spurring the IDF to launch a task force to investigate the concerns in 2014.
The last major conflict between Israel and Hezbollah was the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Army spokesperson Conricus pointed the finger at Iran for providing the funding and support for Hezbollah’s tunnel program.
Agencies contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.