Officer: Tunnels were to be used by Hezbollah for surprise attack in future war

The Hezbollah attack tunnels Israel has begun to uncover crossing into Israeli territory from Lebanon were to be used by the Iran-backed terror group for a surprise attack to kick off a future war, according to Israel military assessments presented to journalists by a senior officer in the IDF Northern Command.

The army believes the tunnel uncovered yesterday east of the Lebanese village of Kafr Kila was meant to let in Hezbollah fighters to cut off the Israeli town of Metulla, which lies directly along the border with Lebanon.

The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says Hezbollah planned to use the tunnels as part of a wider operation to conquer parts of Israel’s Galilee panhandle in a future conflict.

He says none of the tunnels were completed when the IDF launched its operation to find and destroy them — dubbed Northern Shield — and thus did not present an immediate threat to residents of the area.

According to the officer, Hezbollah was at least several months away from having operational tunnels.

The senior official says the army’s operation to uncover the tunnels came as a “great surprise” to Hezbollah, which had tried to keep its subterranean program a secret even within the terrorist organization, only employing a small number of workers to dig the tunnels.

— Judah Ari Gross