TEL AVIV — Hizbullah succeeded in digging bunkers into Israeli
territory without the knowledge of the military.
Military sources said the Israeli military found two bunkers dug by
Hizbullah within Israeli territory. The bunkers, believed to have been
constructed over the last 18 months, were destroyed on Jan. 26, Middle East Newsline reported.
"In the past two days, IDF [Israel Defense Forces] units conducted
searches in Israeli territory beyond the security fence, along the western
part of the international border with Lebanon," a military statement said on
Jan. 26. "The forces uncovered two connected bunkers which had been used by
the Hizbullah terrorist organization, apparently as a forward base for its
operations."
The statement said the military found food, shovels and other equipment
in the Hizbullah bunkers. The military's engineering unit destroyed the
underground facilities.
The military did not say how Hizbullah was able to construct the bunkers
inside Israel. The sources said the bunkers were part of a huge Hizbullah
tunnel network that fired Katyusha rockets into Israel throughout the 34-day
war in mid-2006. Hizbullah fired 4,500 short- and medium-range rockets, many
of them from positions within one kilometer of the Israeli border.
Officers stressed that their search for Hizbullah tunnels was limited to
Israeli territory. They did not rule out the prospect of additional
Hizbullah bunkers inside Israel.
"The goal of the search operation was to prevent Hizbullah terrorists
from returning to posts they manned before the recent war," the statement
said. "The operation is part of the IDF's new operational conduct along
Israel's northern border, a result of the recent war aimed to increase the
effectiveness of defensive activity in the area."
