Israel destroys underground Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon

Israel destroyed underground infrastructure of the pro-Iranian movement Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Israel Katz said. A 4.1 magnitude tremor was recorded after these bombings by the American seismological agency (USGS).

AFP correspondents heard huge explosions in the evening in this area and images broadcast by the Israeli Defense Minister showed a ball of fire rising into the sky. “The Israeli army today destroyed the underground infrastructure of the terrorist organization Hezbollah at the Ali Taher Ridge, thus completing the establishment of the security zone in southern Lebanon,” Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel Katz said in a joint statement.

“This is a strategic terrorist infrastructure built over two decades, with Iranian financing and planning,” they add. In Lebanon, the official National News Agency (ANI) reported that Israel had carried out a dynamiting operation in the area of ​​the Ali al-Taher ridge, in the Nabatiyé region.

Hezbollah tunnels targeted

An AFP correspondent felt tremors before hearing a loud detonation, and another reported that shock waves had reached the southern town of Saida, located around 40 kilometers from the capital. The Israeli army announced last week the capture of this ridge, located north of the Litani River, and which is on the edge of the zone occupied by Israel in southern Lebanon.

Israel claims that Hezbollah dug tunnels in the area allowing it to launch drones and missiles against Israeli military positions in southern Lebanon, as well as northern Israel across the border. “A central command complex belonging to Hezbollah’s Badr unit was located within these underground infrastructures, including (...) weapons storage rooms and living quarters allowing terrorists to manage combat operations and remain underground for extended periods,” the army said in a statement.

Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the regional war in solidarity with Iran in March, but violence has decreased in intensity since the agreement between Iran and the United States in June, alongside an agreement between Lebanon and Israel. During the negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, the United States, sponsor of the talks, proposed that the Lebanese army take control of the Ali Taher ridge, but Hezbollah refused, a source close to the participants told AFP.