IDF laying new infrastructure to detect sounds of Hezbollah digging

JANUARY 19, 2020 09:59

The Israeli army has begun deploying new technological infrastructure along the border with Lebanon, which is able to detect and identify any sounds of digging by Hezbollah.

IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman said that while there has been no new intelligence about new cross-border tunnels or new excavations, the new infrastructure will be used as a preventative measure, alerting the military to any new sounds of tunnel excavations.

The project will begin near the community of Misgav Am on Sunday morning and will last several months. Zilberman stated that the project will continue over the coming year along the entire border based on intelligence, budget and situational needs.

While the infrastructure will be laid within Israel’s borders, with the sounds of the IDF’s operation expected to be heard on both the Israeli and Lebanese side, the military wants to prevent a miscalculation on both sides.

There will be no troop reinforcements as part of the project, Zilberman said.

In December of last year, the IDF launched Operation Northern Shield to discover and destroy all cross-border tunnels dug by Hezbollah into northern Israel.

While the military announced the end of the operation a month later after finding and destroying six tunnels, it noted that it “is simultaneously monitoring several locations where Hezbollah is digging underground structures which have yet to cross into Israel.”

According to the military, the deployment of the infrastructure is another component of the IDF’s extensive defensive effort to prevent any infiltrations by Hezbollah operatives into Israeli territory.

“IDF forces will continue to fulfill their mission of defending and will operate around the clock in order to preserve the sovereignty of the State of Israel and protect its citizens,” the military said in a statement.

While the primary threat posed by Hezbollah remains its missile arsenal, the IDF believes that the next war will see the group trying to bring the fight to the home front by infiltrating Israeli communities to inflict significant civilian and military casualties.

After the end of Operation Northern Shield, the military said that it had “deprived Hezbollah of the unique offensive abilities it had built for years as part of its planned attack on Israeli territory” and strengthened security along the northern border.

The military believes that the attack tunnels were built as a classified component in Hezbollah’s “Conquer the Galilee” plan that would have allowed the group’s elite Radwan fighters to infiltrate into Israel on land, fire short-range rocket and mortar fire and allow other Radwan fighters to infiltrate into communities via the tunnels, cut them off from main roads and to kill as many civilians and troops as possible.

The IDF stated that it will also continue a broad defense effort along the Lebanese border to ensure that Hezbollah does not try to dig future tunnels into Israel by integrating various means such as the ongoing construction of the border wall with Lebanon.

Israel has invested significant amounts of money and effort into strengthening its defenses along the border with Lebanon over the past several years by creating obstacles such as artificial cliffs and building high concrete barriers to help prevent any such ground attacks by Hezbollah.