IDF says Hezbollah tunnel found under south Lebanon cemetery

Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon this week located and sealed a large Hezbollah tunnel hidden under a cemetery, the military says.

The Israeli Air Force’s elite Shaldag unit and ground forces of the 36th Division raided the underground site this week following intelligence on its location. The IDF says that one of the entrances to the tunnel was hidden in a graveyard.

Inside the kilometer-long (0.6 mile-) tunnel, located about 1.5 kilometers (approximately one mile) from the border, the military says the troops found command and control rooms, sleeping quarters and weapon caches. A video released by the IDF shows dozens of weapons and other military equipment being stored in the tunnel.

According to the IDF, the tunnel was to be used by Hezbollah as a staging ground for a planned invasion of Israel.

After the tunnel was mapped out, it was sealed by pumping 4,500 cubic meters of concrete into it, the military says. Hundreds of trucks and cement mixers were involved in the operation.

This video released by the IDF on November 10, 2024, shows a Hezbollah tunnel system in southern Lebanon, and it being sealed with concrete. (Israel Defense Forces)