In spite of this Israel’s nearly year-long war Despite Hamas’s increased activity in Gaza following the October 7 attacks, security experts continue to warn that the greatest threat to Jerusalem actually lies to the north in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has developed a sophisticated tunnel system.
Hezbollah, an Islamist terrorist organization long backed by Iran, has developed a network of tunnels over the past two decades with a total length stretching more than 100 miles across southern Lebanon.
Although the existence of the tunnels has been known for decades, their vital role in providing arms to Hezbollah has once again come to the fore during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, where the militants have relied on the tunnels not only for operational rearmament and maneuver capabilities, but also for Houses held hostage by Hamas about a year ago.
While it has been estimated that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) About 80% of Hamas tunnels were destroyedHezbollah’s tunnels, which have remained untouched since the war in Gaza began, are believed to be far more sophisticated and “much larger”, according to one report. Report The study was conducted by the Alma Research and Education Center, a non-profit organisation that researches security challenges along Israel’s northern border.
On June 3, 2019, a guided tour by the Israeli military showed the interior of a tunnel under the Lebanon–Israel border. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
Hezbollah is believed to have begun building the tunnels after the Second Lebanon War in 2006 in close coordination with Iran and North Korea, with Tehran reportedly taking “inspiration” from tunnels developed in Pyongyang after the Korean War.
Iran considered North Korea “a professional expert on the subject of tunnel construction” because it has experience in digging tunnels for military use when it attempted to dig a tunnel across the Korean Demilitarized Zone with the aim of launching a military invasion of areas north of the South Korean capital, Seoul.
Although the tunnels and their intended use were never realized by the authoritarian nation, Two of the four tunnels were deactivated These aircraft are reportedly capable of transporting up to 30,000 troops per hour, as well as weapons such as armored personnel carriers, tanks and field artillery – an operational blueprint that Hezbollah has resorted to in its fight against Israel.
The report found that Hezbollah, under advice from North Korea — a relationship that likely began in the 1980s — built two types of tunnels in southern Lebanon, “offensive tunnels and infrastructure tunnels.”
This image made available on Friday shows a comparison between tunnels dug by North Korea and Hezbollah. (ALMA Research and Education Center)
The offensive tunnels were intended for operational use similar to those in North Korea, and at least six tunnels leading into Israeli territory were discovered by IDF forces during Operation Northern Shield, which began in December 2018.
Alma’s research found that some of Hezbollah’s tunnels are also capable of carrying ATVs, motorcycles and other “small vehicles,” though it did not say how many militants they could carry.
The tunnels contain “underground command and control rooms, weapons and supply depots, field clinics and designated shafts for firing all types of missiles,” the report said, adding that weapons such as rockets, surface-to-surface missiles, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles could be fired from “shafts” in the tunnels. “These shafts are hidden and camouflaged and cannot be detected above ground.”
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The tunnels are believed to link the capital, Beirut, to southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah’s central headquarters are located, and its military base in the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border.
This image made available on Friday shows areas where Hezbollah has infiltrated Lebanon. (ALMA Research and Education Center)
“We call this inter-regional tunnel network ‘Hezbollah’s land of tunnels,'” he said. ALMA report first released in 2021 Elaborating, he said the tunnel system is like a “metro” of tunnels rather than one long tunnel.
The second series of tunnels dug by Hezbollah, known as the infrastructure tunnels, form an underground network in and near villages in southern Lebanon that establishes a first and second “defense line” against an Israeli invasion – a “much larger project,” according to the Alma report.
One such tunnel is estimated to be approximately 28 miles long, raising questions about how the terrorist organization managed to build such a sophisticated system without opposition from the Lebanese government.
Hezbollah militants take part in a training exercise in the village of Aramta, southern Lebanon, in May 2023. (AP/Hassan Ammar)
“Hezbollah tries to keep secret the location, routes, internal structure, etc. of these tunnels. (It) does this by occupying areas, preventing civilians from entering certain areas and taking advantage of (its) presence and influence in the government,” Boaz Shapira, a researcher at Alma, told Fox News Digital.
Shapira said that Hezbollah not only has the support of about 40%–50% of the Lebanese population, but it is “much better financed, organized, trained, and armed” than the Lebanese government, army, police, or even the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. A force of approximately 10,500 peacekeepers These laws were implemented in Lebanon after the 2006 war.
UN peacekeepers from Spain stand on a hill on the border between Lebanon and Israel on January 10, 2024.
Hezbollah’s cooperation with authoritarian countries such as Iran and North Korea has long posed a major threat to Israel.
But its growing power within Lebanon has pushed it to the top of the list of Israeli security threats, according not only to Shapira but also to former IDF Major General Yaakov Amidror.
“The Lebanese government is too weak to confront Hezbollah,” Amidror told Fox News Digital. “Everything important is decided by Hezbollah, not the government.”
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Hezbollah is believed to be About 50,000 terrorists And, according to Shapira, its sphere of influence extends to nearly every branch of Lebanon’s security apparatus.
“Taking action against Hezbollah would be seen as collaboration with Israel and basically treason in Lebanon, and that was the case last year against the Palestinians,” he said. “That means there is no reason for anyone in the military to challenge Hezbollah.”
Hezbollah militant forces train in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border. (AP/Hassan Ammar/File)
Shapira said demographics in the once Christian-majority country have changed over the past several decades and now have a majority Muslim population — though a U.S. State Department analysis of the division of the Muslim population in Lebanon sees it as roughly evenly split. Between Shia and Sunni groups,
“This trend is also happening in the military. This means that almost every Shia soldier in the army has a brother, cousin or friend who is a Hezbollah terrorist,” Shapira said.
Amidror, a distinguished fellow at the Jewish National Security Institute of America after serving as a former national security adviser to the Israeli prime minister and a 36-year veteran of the IDF, told Fox News Digital he believes Israel needs to take a proactive approach when it comes to countering Hezbollah.
Hezbollah fighters form a human barrier during the funeral procession of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in the southern suburbs of Beirut on August 1, 2024. (KHALID DESSOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)
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“We must launch a war against Hezbollah,” he said, adding that the timing of its operation is the main variable that needs to be determined.
“This would not be an easy task. It would be a very devastating war for us and for Lebanon,” the retired major general said. “Remember that at least 50% of their missiles were hidden in populated areas.
“The casualties will be very high, it will be a devastating war for us and them,” Amidror added. “That’s why fighting these groups is so problematic, because they are fighting within their own population, (and their) target is the Israeli population.
“When you fight among civilians and your targets are civilians, it makes fighting very complicated,” he said.
