Underground War in the Middle East

The world learned all about the tunnels, and the vast amounts of cement used by Hamas to build those tunnels in Gaza, in a network that stretched from the Israeli border and under it toward Jewish settlements, all the way to the Sinai, where Egypt and Israel both have been busy destroying them. The tunnels used for conveying goods from jam to jaguars, as well as building materials, weapons and the smuggling of people.

"People smuggling" inclusive of Hamas terrorists using the tunnels to foray into Israel with the intention of taking Israeli soldiers hostage, or attacking Jewish towns. The Gaza economy was built on what came through those tunnels. And Hamas' leadership did very well for itself, not only siphoning off humanitarian funds from Europe funnelled to it from the Palestinian Authority, but exacting taxes on all goods transported through the tunnels.

The Daily Star/Nicholas Blanford - an abandoned Hezbollah tunnel

Did anyone of the public in Israel or elsewhere give much thought to the tunnels that Hezbollah has been busy constructing? Not much, it seems, though that such networks exist is well enough known in Lebanon, to the UN peacekeeping contingent, and to the Israeli military which has spent a considerable amount of time and money looking for them.

Hezbollah has, in fact, built a network of tunnels, some of them, it is speculated, under the border between Lebanon and Israel. A network near Naqour was 40 metres in depth, had sleeping quarters, bathrooms with hot and cold running water, and kitchens, medical facilities, operations rooms and weapons storage capacities. That bunker lay in full view of, and 100 meters from a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon observation post.

Little wonder that Israel accuses UN groups like UNIFIL and UNRWA, in the Palestinian Territories of turning a blind eye to the activities of Hezbollah and Hamas, the two terrorist groups threatening Israel's existence. Israeli troops happened to stumble across the bunker network at the conclusion of the 2006 war; neither they nor UNIFIL had any idea of its existence. And it was then destroyed by the Israeli military.

But where and how many other like tunnels exist is an unknown. Since 2006 the Hezbollah command has hinted that it has ways and means of infiltrating Israel in the event of an outbreak of hostilities. Or, more likely, should it decide to entertain once again an offensive against Israel. Or, as has occurred before, to abduct Israeli soldiers to hold them for ransom in the exchange of Israeli-held terrorism prisoners.

Israelis living now close to the borders with Lebanon and Syria who have long been aware that attacks from Hezbollah might target them, are in an anxious state renewed by the potential of assaults from underground. For months, Israelis have been cautioning the IDF of loud and distinct sounds coming from underground locations making their way up into homes by way of plumbing. Sounds that seem very much like excavation activities.

In Moshave Zarit, a small community on the border with Lebanon, those complaints have been frequent. Videos have been circulated online where the sounds of digging and banging can be heard clearly, emanating from sinkholes, in the bathrooms of the border villages, which are taken to be evidence of Hezbollah tunnelling its way under the border. Some residents state that the activity has been pronounced enough to produce a shifting of their furniture and moving the pictures on their walls.

At one time, nearby residents were empathetic about the plight of Israelis living in settlements close to Gaza, with news of incursions of Hamas terrorists through the network of underground tunnels reaching into Israel, bringing danger to the residents. Now, it is the people living close to the Gaza border with Israel, where the tunnels were effectively destroyed -- though rumour has it they're being rebuilt -- who are empathizing with residents of Israeli towns near Lebanon.

Hezbollah's chief, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his group was prepared for war with Israel: "We do not want a war, but we are not afraid of it, and we must distinguish between the two, and the Israelis must also understand this very well" he said at a commemoration ceremony for the six Hezbollah members who died on January 18, the result of an Israeli strike. "We have the right to respond in any place and at any time and in the way we see as appropriate."

"My assumption is that they probably have tunnels close to those communities on the Lebanon border", Kobi Marom, a reservist colonel and local resident of the village of Neve Ativ, on the border with Lebanon said. Hezbollah used a network of tunnels in 2006 to fire mortars at Israeli troops, the tunnels enabling their swift escape, Marom explained.

Labboune near Naqoura

Speculation over the possibility of cross-border tunnels being dug by Hezbollah has surfaced periodically since the monthlong war in summer 2006 when Hezbollah’s extensive network of tunnels and bunkers in the southern border district was revealed. Some of those bunkers were built just meters from the border, such as the system at Labboune near Naqoura. That bunker network was 40 meters deep and included sleeping quarters, bathrooms with hot and cold running water, kitchen, medical facilities, operations rooms and ammunition storage facilities. - See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Sep-15/270682-has-hezbollah-built-tunnels-under-the-border-with-israel.ashx#sthash.xvPSQqN1.dpuf

Speculation over the possibility of cross-border tunnels being dug by Hezbollah has surfaced periodically since the monthlong war in summer 2006 when Hezbollah’s extensive network of tunnels and bunkers in the southern border district was revealed. Some of those bunkers were built just meters from the border, such as the system at Labboune near Naqoura. That bunker network was 40 meters deep and included sleeping quarters, bathrooms with hot and cold running water, kitchen, medical facilities, operations rooms and ammunition storage facilities.
The bunker, which was discovered and dynamited by Israeli troops, lay just 100 meters from, and within full view of, a U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon observation post, as well as a nearby Israeli military position. Neither the Israelis nor UNIFIL had any idea the bunker existed until Israeli troops stumbled across it at the end of the war.
If Hezbollah was able to build such a facility at Labboune (and dozens more throughout south Lebanon) without being spotted, it is certainly possible that the party’s engineers could have burrowed under the border.
- See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Sep-15/270682-has-hezbollah-built-tunnels-under-the-border-with-israel.ashx#sthash.xvPSQqN1.dpuf

Speculation over the possibility of cross-border tunnels being dug by Hezbollah has surfaced periodically since the monthlong war in summer 2006 when Hezbollah’s extensive network of tunnels and bunkers in the southern border district was revealed. Some of those bunkers were built just meters from the border, such as the system at Labboune near Naqoura. That bunker network was 40 meters deep and included sleeping quarters, bathrooms with hot and cold running water, kitchen, medical facilities, operations rooms and ammunition storage facilities.
The bunker, which was discovered and dynamited by Israeli troops, lay just 100 meters from, and within full view of, a U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon observation post, as well as a nearby Israeli military position. Neither the Israelis nor UNIFIL had any idea the bunker existed until Israeli troops stumbled across it at the end of the war.
If Hezbollah was able to build such a facility at Labboune (and dozens more throughout south Lebanon) without being spotted, it is certainly possible that the party’s engineers could have burrowed under the border.
- See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Sep-15/270682-has-hezbollah-built-tunnels-under-the-border-with-israel.ashx#sthash.xvPSQqN1.dpuf