JERUSALEM — Israel on Tuesday began to destroy Hezbollah tunnels dug under its northern border, an operation launched with much fanfare at a time when the country’s embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a corruption investigation and criticism for being soft on security.
The military said it had destroyed one of the Lebanese militant group’s tunnels that crossed into Israeli territory in what it dubbed “Operation Northern Shield.” Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that “several” tunnels had been monitored for “quite a long period of time” and the operation had been planned for a year and a half.
“Anyone who tries to harm the State of Israel will pay a heavy price,” Netanyahu said in a statement. He said that he had briefed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the situation during a meeting in Brussels on Monday night explaining that the tunnels are a “flagrant violation” of Israeli sovereignty and U.N. resolution 1701.
The resolution cemented a cease-fire after the brutal 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah during which over 1,000 Lebanese citizens and 165 Israelis died.
Israel has expressed deep concern about the build up of Iranian proxies inside Syria in recent years, but in the last few days there has been a renewed focus on Lebanon, home to Iran’s most powerful proxy, Hezbollah. On Thursday, Israel warned Lebanon to stop allowing Iran to send weapons into the country for Hezbollah after an Iranian cargo plane suspected of carrying a consignment landed in Beirut.
Hours later Israel was accused of carrying out strikes inside Syria, which launched a barrage of antiaircraft rockets in response. Hezbollah then launched a campaign it dubbed “defend our skies,” accusing Israel of breaching resolution 1701 by violating Lebanon’s airspace. It threatened to retaliate against any Israeli attack, releasing a dramatic video showing targets in Israel with their coordinates.
In Israel, the publicity and timing of the operation drew questions. On Sunday, Israeli police recommended indicting Netanyahu on charges of corruption and bribery in one of three criminal investigations into his conduct.
Netanyahu also faced wide criticism, including from within his coalition, after agreeing to a cease-fire with Hamas after the militant group fired more than 450 rockets and mortars into Israeli territory, following a botched Israeli raid into Gaza.
He had earlier agreed to allow Qatar to send money into Gaza to pay the salaries of civil servants and alleviate the humanitarian crisis there.
Those events led to the resignation of his right-wing defense minister Avigdor Liberman and left his ruling coalition hanging by a thread, with a one-seat majority in parliament, known as the Knesset.
[Elections look likely in Israel with Netanyahu’s coalition on verge of collapse]
Conricus said that the timing of the operation was guided by the “maturation of different capabilities that will allow us to feel confident enough to find the tunnels.”
Iran’s regional hegemony has also been a driving foreign policy concern of the Trump administration. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said that the United States “strongly supports” Israel’s efforts to stop tunneling into its territory. “More broadly we call on Iran and all of its agents to stop their regional aggression and provocation, which pose an unacceptable threat to Israeli and regional security.”
Israel has been using what it says is new technology to detect and destroy tunnels built by Hamas in the south, under the fence with Gaza. However, the tunnel destroyed on Tuesday was the first on the northern border.
The military had previously told journalists that the rocky terrain there meant it was not possible for Hezbollah to build tunnels. Residents of northern Israel say that for years they’ve heard unusual sounds of drilling and knocking underground, alerting the military to the suspicious noises.
“We heard noises, we called the army, we also took pictures of Hezbollah operatives on the border,” Zamir Hatan, from Shtula on the northern border, told Israeli Radio. “The army held a meeting with us and told us we had nothing to worry about and that as long as they weren’t shooting, there was nothing to be done.”
Hatan said the “knocking sounds” had gone on for about two or three years. Conricus said every report of digging noises was investigated by engineering experts and none had been found.
However, another army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, said a special team of military experts was assembled in 2014 to determine the threat level of the tunnels.
In the case of Gaza, the military usually would first destroy the tunnels and then announce it afterward. On Tuesday morning, however, the army convened a series of dramatic phone briefings to inform the media it was launching the operation in the north.
Michael Horowitz, a senior analyst at Le Beck International, a Middle East-based security consultancy said that Israel was trying to send a message of deterrence to Hezbollah, which as of Tuesday afternoon had not publicly reacted.
However, Horowitz said he suspected the operation was being politicized. “We’re clearly hearing some form of domestic political messaging,” he said.
“Israel has known about these tunnels for years, and while the timing also makes sense regionally, it certainly helps Netanyahu turn the page of the recent confrontation in Gaza that almost brought the Israeli government down.”
Yoav Kish, a member of Netanyahu’s party and chairman of the Knesset’s Internal Affairs Committee was quick to present the much criticized restraint earlier against Hamas as a key part of the preparation for the current operation.
“It is clear to everyone that a tough military move against Hamas could have led to regional deterioration and confrontation in the north as well,” he said. “The considerations ultimately lead to a decision of restraint to allow the operation to thwart the tunnels in the north.”
Eglash reported from Jerusalem. Liz Sly in Beirut contributed
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