IDF Spokesman Col. Efi Defrin entered deep into Hezbollah’s tunnel network beneath the Ali Taher ridge in southern Lebanon Thursday evening, after Israeli forces completed operational control of the ridge and destroyed the underground infrastructure there.
“This network was built over two decades, financed and directed by the Iranian terror regime,” Defrin said from inside the tunnels. According to him, the infrastructure served as a central command complex and the “nerve center” for Hezbollah’s Badr Unit in the area, from which fighting in southern Lebanon was managed during Operation Northern Arrows, Operation Roar of the Lion, and throughout the current fighting.
Defrin revealed details about the operation that preceded the infrastructure’s destruction. According to him, the ground maneuver included deception and misdirection, as forces from Division 36 captured the Beaufort ridge from an unexpected direction after crossing the Litani River and surprising Hezbollah.
Afterward, fighters from the Commando Brigade and engineering forces from the Yahalom Unit worked to clear the routes and prepare them for destruction. Simultaneously, Israeli forces surrounded the area and applied constant pressure on the terrorists who had fortified themselves underground.
Terrorists who tried to exit the routes or transfer supplies to the besieged terrorists were killed in airstrikes and ground attacks. Others who tried to escape ran into ambushes and were killed in face-to-face combat.
“All the terrorists who stayed in the infrastructure were killed or fled,” the IDF spokesman declared. “Even though Hezbollah declared it would defend the infrastructure at any cost, it failed and even abandoned its men to die inside.”
During the clearing of the tunnel network, forces located numerous weapons that Hezbollah left behind, including weapons manufactured by the Iranian regime.
According to Defrin, the findings provide additional proof of the direct connection between Tehran and the terror organization: “The terror organization Hezbollah is an arm of the Iranian terror regime. This regime, through its proxies, is trying to harm Israel’s security and threatens to destabilize the security of the entire region. Now our mission is complete. The underground route has been neutralized and destroyed,” he announced.
Alongside the operational achievement, Defrin addressed the heavy price Israeli forces paid in the battles to capture and clear the ridge.
“In the battles to capture and clear the ridge, our fighters fell, the best of our sons, the salt of the earth,” he said. “Fighters who acted out of a sense of mission, with courage and out of deep commitment to defending the communities of the north.”
The IDF spokesman wished a recovery to the wounded and added: “We completed the mission. These achievements are first and foremost theirs.”
He closed his remarks with a message going forward: “We will continue to defend the communities of the north and will act to remove every threat to our citizens and our forces. Just as we acted here, we will continue to act along all the borders. We will continue to be a buffer between every threat and the residents of the State of Israel. This is our duty.”