JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli forces have been finishing up raids into southern Lebanon for months, uncovering Hezbollah tunnels and weapon caches beneath houses and uncovering invasion plans by the group, Israeli navy spokesman Daniel Hagari mentioned on Tuesday.
Hagari mentioned the main points had been being declassified, hours after Israel introduced a floor operation in opposition to the Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Dozens of such operations had uncovered detailed plans by Hezbollah to enter Israel and perform an assault much like the one led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Israel on Oct. 7 final yr.
“Our troopers entered Hezbollah’s underground infrastructure; uncovered Hezbollah’s hidden weapons caches and seized and destroyed the weapons together with superior, Iranian-made weapons,” Hagari mentioned.
The findings and proof found beneath houses in villages in southern Lebanon in the course of the raids will likely be offered to the worldwide group, Hagari mentioned.
Hagari confirmed movies filmed on troops’ body-cameras from what he mentioned had been Hezbollah tunnels beneath three Lebanese villages that lie throughout the border from three Israeli cities. The forces additionally discovered maps marking Israeli communities and military posts, he mentioned.
“The operations that we de-classified tonight are solely a small variety of dozens of operations that we’ll reveal going ahead, together with the destruction of Hezbollah’s strategic property and capabilities,” he mentioned.
Hagari mentioned that the bottom raids would proceed till tens of 1000’s of uprooted Israelis dwelling close to the border are capable of return safely to their houses, however that the navy’s intention was to finish them as quick as they will.
“We’re not going to Beirut. We’re not going to the cities in southern Lebanon. We’re specializing in the world of these villages subsequent to our border,” mentioned Hagari.
