Brig. Gen. Yiftah Norkin, commander of the IDF's 36th Division, has been reported to be beneath the Ali Taher ridge in southrn Lebanon, according to The Zioneer. The development comes after previous reporting that a political directive had prevented IDF forces from clearing tunnels in the area.
A Thursday evening report at 22:26 Jerusalem indicates that Brig. Gen. Yiftah Norkin, commander of the IDF's 36th Division, is currently beneath the Ali Taher ridge in southern Lebanon — the same underground tunnel complex that the IDF earlier Thursday said it had cleared and was preparing to demolish. The report from The Zioneer places the division commander inside a site the military had described as a Hezbollah stronghold built over two decades with Iranian funding.
Earlier Thursday at 20:34 Jerusalem, the IDF announced that the 36th Division had completed clearing two Hezbollah underground routes beneath the strategic ridge, establishing full operational control above and below ground. The military said some terrorists were killed and others fled, and that command centers, weapons rooms, living quarters, and a kitchen were found inside the network. Forces were working to neutralize the tunnels ahead of demolition. The thread confirms that the site is the same one Norkin referred to in July: on Sun Jul 12 at 18:35 Jerusalem, he told reporters that a political directive was preventing the military from clearing the tunnels despite full operational readiness, as reported by The Zioneer.
The development marks a shift from reported political constraint to military action, culminating in the commander's own presence beneath the ridge. The complex, as detailed by the IDF, is an Iranian-funded underground fortress designed as a nerve center for attacks toward northern Israel.
The new report does not specify whether the political directive that Norkin cited in July has been rescinded, nor what his current mission at the site entails. It remains unclear if the operation beneath the ridge is now proceeding under a revised directive or as part of the demolition preparations the IDF described earlier.
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