Skip to main content

Israel destroys Hezbollah's border tunnels but missile threat looms

Israel has started uncovering and destroying Hezbollah's attack tunnels under the Lebanese border, but destroying the group's ambitious precision missile project will be much more difficult.
This picture taken on December 4, 2018 near the northern Israeli town of Misgav Am, shows Israeli machinery operating machinery (R) near the border wall with Lebanon. - Israel's army said on December 4 it had detected Hezbollah "attack tunnels" infiltrating its territory from Lebanon and had launched an operation called "Northern Shield" to destroy them, a move likely to raise tensions with the Iran-backed group. (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AFP)        (Photo credit should read JALAA MAREY/AFP/Getty Images)

The Israel Defense Forces placed a camera into Hezbollah’s secret cross-border attack tunnel before sunrise on Dec. 4. They pushed it into the Lebanese side, under the Blue Line that separates the two countries. At dawn, two Hezbollah operatives reached the spot on their morning rounds. In the video disseminated by the IDF on Tuesday evening, one of the operatives is seen approaching the camera with suspicion. He stuck his nose in its direction and started to sniff around until something exploded in his face and he ran back the way he'd come.

This was surely the moment Hezbollah understood that Israel is on its way to neutralizing the terror group’s most important asset in its attack option to conquer Israeli localities in the Galilee in their next confrontation. Israel's robotic camera scored a small but qualitative victory in the battle for hearts and minds between Israel and Hezbollah. The video went viral in seconds, but the war itself has not been won. The decisive rounds are still ahead of us and they are not connected to tunnels but to the precision missile project and the direct flights that have begun to land in Beirut’s international airport, straight from the Revolutionary Guard Corps of Tehran.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.