Israel Announces Destruction of Major Hezbollah Underground Facility in Southern Lebanon

Israel’s military announced the destruction of a major underground facility operated by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it deployed over 1,000 tonnes of explosives to demolish two tunnels stretching more than 2km (1.2 miles) beneath the Ali Taher Ridge.

According to the US Geological Survey, the explosion generated seismic activity equivalent to a magnitude 4.1 earthquake.

Neither Hezbollah nor the Lebanese government has yet issued a public response.

Israeli forces seized the ridge last week following months of fighting with the Iran-backed group. The Israeli military occupies a significant portion of southern Lebanon since the conflict with Hezbollah resumed in March.

Images released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) showed a fireball lighting up the sky.

“The sky lit up and about 15 seconds later we heard the terrifying sound,” said Ahamed, a resident of Nabatieh, located about 6km west of the ridge. “The house shook all together as if it was literally an earthquake.”

He reported that people were screaming and children crying, while cars filled the roads as residents fled toward Beirut.

Tremors were even felt in the coastal city of Saida, 40km to the north.

The IDF stated the underground infrastructure included a command centre used by Hezbollah’s Badr unit, along with dozens of rockets, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-tank weapons, mines, and explosives.

“This was strategic infrastructure that was constructed over two decades, funded and planned by the Iranian terror regime,” the IDF said in a statement on Telegram. “All of the terrorists who were inside the infrastructure were eliminated or fled.”

The IDF said the destruction of the complex completed a mission to destroy eight tunnels and establish a “security zone” in the area.

The latest operation comes amid renewed fighting in southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces have expanded their campaign against Hezbollah positions and continue to hold what Israel describes as a security zone near the border.

Lebanese media reported fresh Israeli strikes elsewhere in the south on Thursday, including in Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Mansouri in the Tyre district.

The Lebanese army has increased its deployments in areas outside Israeli control, including the southern city of Nabatieh, in an effort to bolster stability and reassure residents, local television station MTV reported.

Lebanon was drawn into the war between Israel, the US and Iran on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader.

Israel responded with a bombing campaign across Lebanon and invaded a significant part of the country’s south. Its forces continue to occupy roughly 5% of Lebanese territory.

Fighting subsided following a ceasefire deal between Iran and the US in June, alongside a separate agreement between Lebanon and Israel. While hundreds of thousands of people have returned to their homes in recent months, about 330,000 remain displaced as a result of the conflict, according to the United Nations.

Under the Lebanon-Israel framework, Hezbollah is expected to disarm, Israeli forces to withdraw gradually from southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese army to deploy across the area.

Hezbollah was not directly involved in the agreement and has rejected direct negotiations.

Despite a reduction in fighting, Israeli strikes and demolitions in southern Lebanon have continued.

At least 4,383 people — including 395 women and 259 children — have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli attacks since 2 March, according to the health ministry, whose figures do not differentiate between combatants and civilians. At least 29 have been killed this week, the ministry says.

Israeli authorities say 40 Israeli soldiers and four civilians have been killed in the same period.

Additional reporting by Raffi Berg in London and Samantha Granville and Ghaith Solh in Beirut

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