Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that the IDF has destroyed Hezbollah terror tunnels in the Beaufort area of southern Lebanon using approximately 700 tons of explosives. The tunnels, he stated, were intended for an invasion of Galilee communities. The operation is part of a systematic campaign to dismantle Hezbollah's underground infrastructure, as previously reported by The Zioneer.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced early Friday that the IDF had destroyed a major Hezbollah terror tunnel network beneath the Beaufort ridge in southern Lebanon, using approximately 700 tons of explosives. The tunnels, they said, were intended for a large-scale invasion of communities in the Galilee.
The announcement was first reported by The Zioneer at 00:10 Jerusalem, alongside a joint statement from Netanyahu and Katz detailing the scale of the operation. A subsequent analysis at 01:12 Jerusalem described the network as an Iran-funded command center for Hezbollah's Badr unit, built over two decades. Within the same hour, the IDF released official footage of the demolition, and multiple Israeli and Lebanese media outlets published corroborating reports, confirming the destruction of what had been one of Hezbollah's most significant strategic assets in southern Lebanon.
The IDF has been systematically dismantling Hezbollah's underground infrastructure since June, as The Zioneer reported on June 7 when the military first uncovered a vast tunnel network used for hundreds of launches. Defense Minister Katz stated on June 16 that the IDF was thwarting tunnels and destroying terror infrastructure near the border fence. The Beaufort operation was triggered by a Hezbollah ceasefire violation, according to the joint statement, and marks the neutralization of a key asset designed for an invasion of Israeli territory.
The exact number of tunnels destroyed and the full extent of any remaining underground infrastructure in the area have not been disclosed. The IDF has not provided details on the specific Hezbollah ceasefire violation that prompted the operation.
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