Israel said Thursday it demolished key tunnels built by the Iran-backed Hezbollah group beneath the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon.
Israel had announced last week it had captured the Ali al-Taher ridge. The Israeli army said the infrastructure extended for more than two kilometres (1.2 miles) and contained “dozens of Iranian-made rockets, missiles, and UAVs, as well as machine guns, dozens of anti-tank missiles, and hundreds of mines and explosive devices.
“This is strategic terrorist infrastructure that was built over two decades, with Iranian funding and planning,” said a joint statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, adding that its destruction “completes the achievement of operational control over the Ali al-Taher ridge — above and below ground”. AFP journalists in south Lebanon also said they heard “huge explosions” on Thursday evening.
