IDF seals Hezbollah’s ‘flagship’ cross-border tunnel

The Israeli military is sealing off a cross-border Hezbollah attack tunnel from Lebanon, which it says was the largest and most technically advanced passage dug by the Iran-backed terrorist group.

The tunnel, which began in the Lebanese border town of Ramyeh, is being closed off with concrete and other sealants, “after an intelligence-operations investigation throughout the tunnel was performed in recent months,” the army says.

צה״ל, בהובלת פיקוד הצפון ועוצבת הגליל, השלים היום את השמדתה של מנהרה התקפית של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה שחצתה משטח לבנון לשטח ישראל. המנהרה יצאה ממרחב הכפר השיעי רמיה ונחשפה בידי צה״ל בינואר האחרון במסגרת מבצע ״מגן צפוני״: https://t.co/8kAr8avFcq pic.twitter.com/gbBycXxE0J

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 30, 2019

According to the IDF, is was Hezbollah’s “flagship” tunnel, which was longer, dug deeper and contained more advanced components than the other five cross-border attack tunnels that the military said it found in Operation Northern Shield, an effort to find and destroy these passages in December and January.

The army says the tunnel was dug to a depth of 80 meters (260 feet), was a kilometer (3280 feet) long and penetrated 77 meters (250 feet) into Israeli territory. It began close to the Lebanese village of Ramiya, the IDF said, with an exit close to the Israeli villages of Shtula and Zar’it.

The IDF believes that this tunnel — and the five others found this winter — was built with the specific purpose of allowing thousands of Hezbollah terrorists to stage an infiltration attack on military and civilian targets in northern Israel as a surprise opening maneuver in a future war.

— Judah Ari Gross