Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israel Launches Operation To Destroy Hezbollah Tunnels On Northern Border

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s military launched Operation Northern Shield, to destroy tunnels constructed by Hezbollah that reach from Lebanon into Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces announced the discovery of the tunnels and began destroying them on Monday night.

The IDF said that the tunnels were not complete and did not pose an immediate threat, but that they did stretch into Israeli territory.

Several areas close to the northern security fence have been declared closed military zones and there is an increased IDF presence there, the IDF said in a statement. The statement added that there currently are no special instructions for residents of the north and that they should go about their normal routine, though farmers reportedly were warned to stay away from the border.

The military is destroying the tunnels from Israel’s side of the border.

“We are in complete control of the operation, and we are determined to remove the threat of the tunnels from Israel’s northern border,” IDF Spokesman Ronen Manelis said in a statement. “The Hezbollah terror organization, which is behind the digging of the tunnels, continues to operate with Iranian support and funding in order to establish its terrorist activity against Israeli citizens.”

Manelis told Israeli media that the IDF has been planning for this operation “for a very long time.”

Hamas in Gaza reportedly provided Hezbollah with information on how to build such tunnels, after building several between the coastal strip and southern Israel.

Hezbollah on Friday posted a threatening video showing satellite images and map locations of strategic sites in Israel, accompanied by the message: “Attack and you will regret it.” The video was posted hours after an alleged Israeli airstrike on Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.