The UN keeps peace in southern Lebanon – this Hezbollah tunnel suggests otherwise

IDF says Hezbollah is using Unifil staff as ‘human shields’ by operating from a tunnel no more than 100 metres from their base

High up on the dry brush hills that rise steadily from the Israeli border, the UN watchtower surveys southern Lebanon and the plains below as far as the eye can see.
But no more than 100 metres from the blast walls below the tower, a rusty metal trapdoor swings open to reveal a tunnel cut deep into the rock.
This, the Israeli military says, is the entrance to a Hezbollah attack position.
It is one of two within a stone’s throw of a UN base where international soldiers have for years rotated in and out to prevent another war breaking out.
The tunnels were shown to The Telegraph by Israeli troops on Sunday before the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered the UN to withdraw “immediately”.
His demand came as Israeli tanks rammed through the gates of a UN base – and a few days after UN soldiers were injured by IDF tank rounds.
The “most important part is to see the proximity to the UN. It’s right here,” an Israeli soldier told this newspaper as he stood over the tunnel entrance.
“To build a tunnel like this you need a lot of equipment. You can’t hide it. It’s very odd to us that the UN didn’t see these activities,” General Yiftach, whose division now controls the area, added.
The Telegraph, the first British newspaper to enter southern Lebanon from Israel, was taken to the tunnel in an armoured vehicle.
It churned over rough terrain, kicking up clouds of dust on the hillside overlooking Israeli towns and villages which have been coming under rocket fire for months.
Israeli soldiers lined the dirt roads, tracks and pathways as the vehicle climbed high through dry brush and trees, vast swathes of which had been flattened by convoys of tanks and armed forces.
Arriving at the tunnel, the views into Israel stretched almost to Haifa, while up the hill a UN watchtower was clearly in sight.
The two tunnels revealed by the IDF are just 10 metres apart and served two different purposes for Hezbollah.
One was an observation post, full of cameras used to collect intelligence on Israeli villages across the border.
The other was used to fire anti-tank missiles at Israeli villages until Israeli soldiers invaded the south-west of Lebanon last week.
They are just two out of some 100 other Hezbollah posts found in the one sq km which IDF General Yiftach Norkin’s division has taken control of.
Mr Norkin insisted that the army is continuing to coordinate with the UN troops who are still in their compound, which overlooks two tunnels in the area.
“I want to emphasise that the UN isn’t our enemy. Sometimes we make mistakes and we investigate the incidents,” he said.
The UN later released a statement saying two Israeli tanks had broken through the gates of a UN base. It follows reports that Israeli tanks fired on UN bases last week, injuring two soldiers.
Mr Netanyahu on Sunday also demanded UN peacekeepers leave southern Lebanon or risk becoming “human shields”.
“Your refusal to evacuate Unifil soldiers has turned them into hostages of Hezbollah. This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers,” he added.
The UN has demanded Israel halt operations near its bases and has defended its peacekeeping mission, formed in 1978 and renewed after the 2006 war. 
Critics say Hezbollah has grown and entrenched itself in southern Lebanon during those times.
During the Telegraph’s visit into southern, Lebanon Olivier Rafowizc, an IDF officer, said the army asked UN peacekeepers to evacuate from the area due to the danger involved in staying in an area where Israeli troops are fighting Hezbollah members.
General Norkin admitted that their Unifil troops “got hurt from our action” in recent days, “but as you see it’s very complicated to operate in those areas when Hezbollah is using the UN’s bases as human shields”.
“They are operating very close to them. When a tank or another IDF force sees Hezbollah is about to act against us we fire back,” Mr Norkin added.
Hezbollah, he said, has built an extensive infrastructure across all of southern Lebanon, serving one purpose – to one day “conquer” the Galilee.
Ariel* said Hezbollah had fired at his troops in the valley across the border before they launched their ground invasion.
He said he was astonished to see the extent of Hezbollah’s military equipment and infrastructure, but that the IDF had now driven most of their fighters away from the border at this point.
“You have enough ammunition for two battalions just in this area,” he said.
After a string of incidents in the past two days which have seen Unifil peacekeepers once again coming under fire, the IDF’s spokesman, Nadav Shoshani, said more than 24 attacks had been carried out by Hezbollah firing missiles near Unifil posts, “in some cases a few dozen metres away”.
“Hezbollah has been purposefully locating their weapons in areas such as near Unifil bases,” Mr Shoshani told reporters. Today, 25 soldiers were injured in a “planned Hezbollah attack in very close proximity” to a Unifil post where Hezbollah is known to operate.
According to the IDF, the peacekeepers were already in shelters after being notified.
“Hezbollah has chosen to bring the battlefield near Unifil posts … a pattern Hezbollah operates,” Mr Shoshani added, saying Hezbollah wants to “drag Unifil into the line of fire”.
The armoured vehicle takes us through bumpy roads, occasionally swirling so much dust that we can’t see what is in front of us. Dozens of Israeli soldiers, men and women, walked wearily on the side of the sandy road.
They are among the thousands of troops who have been sent to southern Lebanon in recent weeks to push Hezbollah north of the Litani river. A strategic point for Israel which would provide a Hezbollah-free buffer zone for the residents of northern Israel.
And according to Mr Norkin, the IDF hasn’t met fierce resistance in south-west Lebanon, mainly due to heavy aerial bombardment of the area in the past 12 months which caused many Hezbollah members to flee their positions.
But their goal was clear, Mr Norkin said, to penetrate the border and take control of Israeli villages.
To back up their claim, the IDF takes us to a one-kilometre trail hidden inside bushes near the border. It’s just one of some 25 trails which had about 700 weapons depots spread across them.
Halfway through the trail, a small base meets us. Here the IDF is displaying the weapons and equipment Hezbollah left behind.
Boots, weapons, helmets, explosive devices and a small cave was Hezbollah’s “grab-backs” intended to be used for a simultaneous attack against Israel, the IDF said.
It destroyed some of the weapon depots and confiscated others. Water pipes and electricity connect the trails to nearby villages such as Labbouneh, a few kilometres from us.
Drone footage has shown mass destruction to villages in southern Lebanon after Israeli air strikes and battles with Hezbollah.
More than one million Lebanese have been internally displaced, the vast majority since Israel began its ground offensive.
Since then Israel has revealed footage of the thousands of weapons and missiles the IDF found inside civilian homes.
“When we understood that there’s a strong connection between the open areas and the villages we decided to take action there as well,” General Norkin said.
He explains that the weapons hidden in the 700 depots are highly sophisticated and originate from North Korea, Russia and Iran.
Iran has smuggled long-range missiles and weapons to Hezbollah through Syria into Lebanon since the last war with Israel in 2006.
As the general walks us through the strategy of the IDF, sounds of drones, artillery fire and what appear to be air strikes fill the air.
Cleaning all of south Lebanon from Hezbollah positions and infrastructure seems like a herculean task. But after thousands of air strikes, killing an estimated 1,000 Hezbollah members including its entire leadership, the army is only ramping up its attacks.
The IDF is trying to push Hezbollah as far north as possible so that 60,000 displaced Israelis can return to their homes.
The Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, visited the northern border on Sunday saying he instructed the IDF at all levels to “ensure the destruction of [attack infrastructure] and to ensure that terrorists may not return to these places. This is essential in order to ensure the safety of Israel’s northern communities.
“The IDF’s actions are powerful and effective – we are operating in the entire area. We have destroyed [attack] infrastructure in Beirut, in the Bekaa and across Lebanon, and now we are operating along the border. We will continue until operational requirements are achieved,” he said.