The Hezbollah tunnel threat emerges again

Five years after Israel launched Operation Northern Shield against Hezbollah cross-border tunnels, there are concerns about the Hezbollah tunnel threat again. It’s important to understand the context here. Hezbollah has extensive experience tunneling underground. Hamas tunnels have been discovered to be much larger and more extensive than previously thought. Therefore, is it possible the Hezbollah tunnel threat is also larger than previously believed?

This was the question raised last week after a giant Hamas tunnel was revealed near Erez. The tunnel was wide enough for a car to drive through in parts. In addition, the IDF has discovered other massive multi-layered tunnels. While 1,500 tunnel shafts have been found, it appears there are thousands more. So what about Lebanon today? IDF Northern Command head Maj. Gen. Uri Gordin was quoted at Ynet saying to regional councils in the north that information about the tunnel threat will not be withheld. The IDF is “conducting searches to locate any terrorist infrastructure both above and below the ground. If a threat is identified, we will not keep it a secret from anyone,” Gordin said.

The Alma Research and Education Center, which focuses on northern threats, noted on December 18 “following the reveal of Hamas’ strategic tunnel in Gaza (Dec 17), the food chain of Iranian proxies is clear. First Hezbollah, then everything else. If these are the capabilities of Hamas, then what are the capabilities of Hezbollah in the context of building strategic tunnels?”

An article from Maariv includes other details about an Alma report. These tunnels were built with North Korean assistance, an Alma report in July 2021 by Alma researcher Tal Beeri noted. “In our estimation, after the Second Lebanon War of 2006, Hezbollah, with the help of the North Koreans and the Iranians, set up a project forming a network of “inter-regional” tunnels in Lebanon, a network significantly larger than the “Hamas” metro (in our assessment, Hamas used Iranian and North Korean knowledge to build its tunnels as well).”

One of the tunnels is 45km in length. These are strategic tunnels that can also enable vehicles to travel in them.

In May 2021 Kan even reported on a tunnel that supposedly stretched from Beirut to southern Lebanon. The overall context of the Hezbollah tunnel threat is that part of the threat was already known. In fact Israel had chosen to defer an operation in Gaza in the fall of 2018 to act against the tunnel threat on the northern border.

In May 2021 during the war against Hamas, the IDF also targeted the Hamas “metro” of tunnels. However, the Hamas tunnel system is now believed to be much larger than previously thought. This is where the concerns about Hezbollah’s tunnels also gain new attention.

Last week the IDF said “since the beginning of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, IDF forces have discovered approximately 1,500 terrorist tunnel shafts and tunnel routes of Hamas. It’s important to explain that this underground infrastructure is one of the main elements in Hamas’s terror operations.”

Hezbollah’s watchful eye

Hezbollah has watched the developments in Gaza. It is also calculating its next moves. It has carried out numerous attacks on Israel. However, it has also suffered casualties. Southern Lebanon is not the same as Gaza. It has a different type of terrain, including rocky hills and valleys. In addition, whereas Hamas built tunnels under cities, Hezbollah operates in villages and towns. Both groups use civilians as human shields and exploit the presence of the UN.

Hezbollah has generally been more sophisticated than Hamas. However, the October 7 attack revealed Hamas capabilities and it has led to many questions about Hezbollah capabilities. With Israeli civilians evacuated from the northern border the equation in the north has also changed slightly. Nevertheless the questions about tunnels remains and what kind of tunnels Hezbollah may have, and how they pose a threat.

Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.