The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday launched an operation to destroy a number of cross-border attack tunnels that it says were dug by the Iran-backed Hezbollah group into northern Israel from Lebanon.

Announcing the launch of Operation Northern Shield, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said “a number of tunnels” had penetrated Israeli territory and forces were working on the Israeli side of the frontier to destroy them.

“We see Hezbollah’s actions as a flagrant and blatant violation of Israeli sovereignty,” he said.

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The military said it believed these tunnels were for offensive purposes, unlike the tunnels and underground bunkers used by Hezbollah during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, which were primarily used for its defensive strategies.

Conricus said the tunnels “are not yet operationally ready” and therefore did not pose an “immediate threat.”

The operation came as tensions on Israel’s northern border have ramped up in recent days, and hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Brussels for a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss Iran and security challenges on Israel’s northern border, likely referring to Hezbollah.

Israeli security chiefs were holding security assessments throughout the day on Tuesday in order to predict Hezbollah’s reaction to the IDF operation.

The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson called on Hezbollah members and Lebanese citizens to keep away from the tunnels. “You’ve been warned,” he wrote on Twitter.

Israel has long said that Hezbollah planned to conduct cross-border raids in any future conflict, with the specific goal of attacking and conquering a civilian town near the border. Northern residents have raised fears in recent years of attack tunnels being dug under the border, spurring the IDF to launch a task force to investigate the concerns in 2014.

“[Hezbollah’s] main goal is to kill as many people as they can in [Israeli] villages and army bases,” a senior officer IDF officer said earlier this year, in a briefing to reporters on the Lebanese border.

The IDF operation began in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning. The military declared the area around the community of Metulla a closed military zone, but gave no other special instructions to Israeli civilians in the area.

The army said the operation was expected to expand to other locations along the Israeli-Lebanese border in the coming days. A spokesman said the operation might last weeks.

Additional troops were deployed to northern Israel as a precaution against potential attacks by Hezbollah, but no reservists were called up.

Conricus would not comment on whether additional air defenses were deployed to the area as a precautionary measure as well, but military sources said the IAF and IDF special forces were braced for any eventuality. Hezbollah is believed to have an arsenal of over 100,000 rockets and missiles.

Last Friday, the Lebanese terror group issued a warning video to Israel apparently filled with satellite images and precise map locations of strategic sites in the Jewish state, with a message: “Attack and you will regret it.”

The video was posted after an alleged Israeli airstrike on Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria the night before.

The video, with Hebrew subtitles, opened with scenes of Hezbollah fighters preparing to launch rockets and leader Hassan Nasrallah warning that the Lebanese terror group would respond to any attack on Lebanon.

Attack tunnels were long rumored to have been dug from southern Lebanon into Israeli territory by the Iran-backed terror group, but in recent years Israeli defense officials repeatedly either denied their existence or refused to discuss the matter.

The IDF spokesperson accused Iran of providing the funding and support for Hezbollah’s tunnel program.

“We’ll be dealing with that in the next few days too,” the army said.

According to the Israeli military, the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group also provided Hezbollah with technical assistance, based on its extensive experience digging attack tunnels from the Strip into southern Israel.

Conricus also accused the Lebanese government of failing to prevent Hezbollah from establishing a military presence in southern Lebanon, despite this being a violation of United Nations Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War and called for all armed groups besides the Lebanese military to remain north of the country’s Litani River.

A spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL, which is meant to enforce UN Resolution 1701, told The Times of Israel that it was aware of the reports that the IDF was launching Operation Northern Shield and was maintaining contact with “all relevant interlocutors to ensure that the parties use the UNIFIL liaison and coordination mechanisms to maintain the continued calm and stability.”

“The situation in UNIFIL’s area of operation remains calm,” the UNIFIL spokesperson said.

Conricus said he could not elaborate on the number of tunnels or how deeply they penetrated into Israel, but said such information may be provided in the future.

The IDF spokesperson would not comment on how the military sought to destroy the alleged Hezbollah tunnels, but said it would use some of the techniques and technologies it employs in countering the attack tunnels dug into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

“It will take time to neutralize and expose all the tunnels,” the IDF spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said units from the IDF Northern Command, Military Intelligence, Combat Engineering Corps and Ministry of Defense will lead Operation Northern Shield.

The project to find these alleged Hezbollah tunnels began in 2013 when residents of northern Israel reported hearing the sounds of underground construction, but the initial checks turned up no evidence of tunnels.

“Every complaint was checked with the technologies and capabilities available at that time. We could not substantiate those complaints,” IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis told the Kan broadcaster on Tuesday morning.

In October 2014, following the Gaza war earlier that summer in which Hamas attack tunnels played a key role, the IDF established a new task force, made up of intelligence and technology units, with the aim of “detecting and exposing Hezbollah’s offensive tunnel program,” the IDF spokesperson said.

In recent years, the Israeli military and Defense Ministry have been bolstering defenses along the Israeli-Lebanese border: setting up berms, clearing vegetation, creating artificial cliffs and building nine-meter-tall concrete walls.

The barriers are designed to serve two main functions: protect Israeli civilians and soldiers from sniper attacks, and prevent infiltration into Israel by Hezbollah operatives.

According to the IDF senior officer, approximately seven years ago, Hezbollah created a special forces unit — known as the Radwan Unit — specifically tasked with crossing into Israel and causing as much mayhem and destruction as possible both for the sake of the destruction itself and for the “symbolism” of having troops carry out attacks inside Israel.

Israel fought a punishing war with Hezbollah in 2006, which has since given way to relative quiet along the frontier. However, Israeli officials have raised alarms over Iran arming Hezbollah, via Syria or directly into Lebanon, with precision missile technology.

On Monday, Netanyahu was reportedly slated to request that Pompeo pass a message to Beirut that Israel would act militarily if it did not crack down on Hezbollah.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.</s>The Israeli military launched an operation on Tuesday to "expose and thwart" tunnels built by the Hezbollah group that it says stretch from Lebanon into northern Israel.

The tunnels are not operational, the military said, adding that its work to find and neutralize them was taking place inside Israeli territory. But the operation could send tensions soaring between Israel and its Iranian-backed foe, who have both been preoccupied with other conflicts since their last conflagration more than a decade ago.

"We see Hezbollah's activities as a flagrant and blatant violation of Israeli sovereignty" and of U.N. resolutions, said Lt. Col Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman. "This activity is another example of the negative effects of Iranian entrenchment in the region."

The military did not disclose how many tunnels snake into Israeli territory from Lebanon or what tools it was using to deal with the threat, although it said the operation could last for weeks. Israel has spent years attempting to tackle a network of tunnels from the Gaza Strip into Israel and has used a variety of methods to destroy tunnels and prevent them from being rebuilt.

A Lebanese military official told The Associated Press that Lebanese troops and military intelligence agents, along with U.N. peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon, were observing the border on Tuesday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, had no further details.

Israel has been using earthmovers and other large machinery to build a massive wall along its northern border, saying the barrier is needed to protect civilians from Hezbollah attacks. While the construction has prompted complaints from the Lebanese army, Hezbollah has not responded, an indication it could remain restrained amid the new operation.

Israel, meanwhile, gave no special orders to residents of northern Israel, signaling that it too was not expecting an immediate response from Hezbollah.

The existence of the tunnels did not appear to have surprised Israel. Conricus said that Hezbollah has been developing an offensive plan against Israel that would "shift the battleground into Israel." The group would use firepower and ground units and "the surprise component of that plan was supposed to be tunnels that would allow infiltrators into Israel."

He added that Israel has investigated the possibility of underground Hezbollah tunnels since 2013 and launched a task force which has been working for the last two years to search for them. He did not explain why the operation was launched now.

Bulldozers and military vehicles were seen operating near the Israeli pastoral town of Metula on Tuesday. Residents of the area told Israeli media they had been hearing digging noises for years and had reported their suspicions to the military.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006 that ended in a stalemate. Israel's border with Lebanon has been relatively quiet in the years since, but Israel has continued to identify the Shiite militant group and its expanding weapons cache of tens of thousands of rockets as a major threat.

The Israeli operation began hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a snap trip to Brussels to meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in which the two discussed "ways to halt together Iranian aggression in the region," including in Lebanon.

Israel has long voiced concern about Iran's growing military presence along its northern border, warning of an Iranian corridor that could assist in the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah. Israel has generally refrained from engaging in Syria's civil war, though it has carried out scores of airstrikes against what Israel says were Iranian shipments of advanced weapons bound for Hezbollah.

The operation comes weeks after Netanyahu faced a major crisis in his governing coalition over the handling of a cease-fire with Gaza militants. Amid the crisis he took on the defense portfolio from his resigning minister and promised to pursue a hard line against Israel's enemies during what he described as a "complex" security situation.

Although its attention has been diverted to violent protests along its border with Gaza in recent months, Israel's main security concerns lie to the north, along the border with Lebanon.

Israeli officials have long warned the threat posed by Palestinian resistance group Hamas in Gaza pales in comparison to that of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah — a heavily-armed mini-army with valuable combat experience and an arsenal of some 150,000 rockets that can reach nearly every part of Israel.

Hezbollah meanwhile has also been distracted by the war in Syria, where it has fought fiercely alongside Assad regime troops. With Syria's civil war winding down, Hezbollah is now free to re-establish itself back home in Lebanon and refocus on Israel.

Neither side appears interested quite yet in another full-fledged confrontation like the 2006 war, but any skirmish could spark an all-out conflict along the tense border.</s>The Israeli military launched an operation Monday night to destroy cross-border tunnels constructed by Hezbollah, crossing the Lebanon border into Israel.

The Israel Defense Force announced the discovery of the tunnels on Tuesday morning, and has started destroying them, dubbing the operation Northern Shield.

The military said it has been aware since 2006 that Hezbollah was trying to construct attack tunnels stretching from Lebanon into Israel at several points along the border. Since then, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has spoken of a plan to take over parts of the Galilee, in northern Israel, in a future conflict.

>> Battle between Israel and Iran shifting from Syria to Lebanon | Analysis ■ Netanyahu's meeting with Pompeo is a warning to Iran and Lebanon - before Israel takes military action | Analysis

The IDF is currently assessing the situation to gauge Hezbollah's reaction to the destruction of the tunnels. The IDF expects changes in the current situation. At this stage, farmers have been warned not to approach the border.

In 2013, the military discovered that Hezbollah was attempting to begin construction of the tunnels but could not locate any.

In 2014, the military formed a special team to locate these tunnels, and in 2015 the military began a project to build a barrier along the Lebanese border. During this time, the military developed technology to locate the tunnels.

The IDF Spokesperson Ronen Manelis said, "the fact that Hezbollah has tunnels crossing the border into Israeli territory is proof of a flagrant violation of Israeli sovreignty. We see this as a very serious situation that hurts Lebanon and the citizens of Lebanon, and we hold the Lebanese government accountable. We have indisputable proof that the Lebanese government is not in control of their border. Iranian money is behind these tunnels."

According to Manelis, the IDF troops along the border have been reinforced, "We are in full control of the situation and are determined to remove the underground Hezbollah threat from the northern border. The tunnels do cross into Israeli territory, but the work on them was not complete."

Over the last few years authorities in the north have reported hearing noises from under the ground, yet the Israeli army maintained that there were no tunnels under the northern border.

The army has long been aware of Hezbollah's intention to build tunnels, yet it is unclear at what point they discovered the tunnels that are currently being destroyed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels, Belgium on Monday. The two discussed ways to "work together to block Iranian agression in the region - in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon."

The head of the Mossad, the head of the National Security Council and the military secretary also attended the meeting.</s>JERUSALEM — The Israeli military launched an operation on Tuesday to "expose and thwart" tunnels built by the Hezbollah militant group that it says stretch from Lebanon into northern Israel.

The tunnels are not operational, the military said, adding that its work to find and neutralize them was taking place inside Israeli territory. But the operation could send tensions soaring between Israel and its Iranian-backed foe, who have both been preoccupied with other conflicts since their last conflagration more than a decade ago.

"We see Hezbollah's activities as a flagrant and blatant violation of Israeli sovereignty," said Lt. Col Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman. "This activity is another example of the negative effects of Iranian entrenchment in the region."

The military did not disclose how many tunnels snake into Israeli territory from Lebanon, how long the operation would last nor what tools it was using to deal with the threat. It has spent years attempting to tackle a network of tunnels snaking from the Gaza Strip into Israel and has used a variety of methods to destroy tunnels and prevent them from being rebuilt.

Conricus said that Hezbollah has been developing an offensive plan against Israel that would "shift the battleground into Israel." The group would use firepower and ground units and "the surprise component of that plan was supposed to be tunnels that would allow infiltrators into Israel."

He added that Israel has investigated the possibility of underground Hezbollah tunnels since 2013 and launched a task force which has been working for the last two years to search for them. He did not explain why the operation was launched now.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006 that ended in a stalemate. Israel's border with Lebanon has been relatively quiet in the years since, but Israel has continued to identify the Shiite militant group and its expanding weapons cache of tens of thousands of rockets as a major threat.

The Israeli operation began hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a snap trip to Brussels to meet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in which the two discussed "ways to halt together Iranian aggression in the region," including in Lebanon.

Although its attention has been diverted to violent protests along its border with Gaza in recent months, Israel's main security concerns lie to the north, along the border with Lebanon.

Israeli officials have long warned the threat posed by Gaza's Hamas rulers pales in comparison to that of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah — a heavily-armed mini-army with valuable combat experience and an arsenal of some 150,000 rockets that can reach nearly every part of Israel.

Hezbollah meanwhile has also been distracted by the war in Syria, where it has fought fiercely alongside President Bashar al-Assad's troops. With Syria's civil war winding down, Hezbollah is now free to re-establish itself back home in Lebanon and refocus on Israel.

Neither side appears interested quite yet in another full-fledged confrontation like the war in 2006, but any skirmish could spark an all-out conflict along the tense border.</s>Israel said on Tuesday it had launched an operation to “expose and thwart” cross-border attack tunnels from Lebanon dug by the Iran-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah.

The army said the operation was for now confined to Israel and did not extend into Lebanon, where the tunnels originated. The broader frontier appeared calm in the hours after the announcement, despite fear that it could lead to confrontation.Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, World, News, Israel hezbollah, israel fighting, attack tunnels, hezbollah tunnels

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah. A Lebanese army source said the situation was calm on its side of the border, as did U.N. peacekeepers operating there.

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Israel released video footage of digging and pile-driving equipment at work in unidentified locations, carrying out what it said were “tactical preparations to expose Hezbollah’s offensive cross-border tunnel project.”

It later published a photograph of a tunnel that it said it had uncovered. Israel said the tunnel originated under a house around the Lebanese village of Kfar Kela and crossed the border near Israel’s northernmost town, Metula.

Reuters could not immediately verify the photo or the footage.

Israel and Hezbollah have avoided any major conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border since their last war in 2006, though Israel has mounted attacks in Syria targeting what it said were advanced weapon deliveries to the Shi’ite Muslim group.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels to update him on the imminent tunnel operation.

“Whoever tries to harm Israel will pay a heavy price,” Netanyahu said in a statement after returning to Israel early in the morning.

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The military said the tunnels were not yet operational but posed “an imminent threat” to Israeli civilians, and constituted “a flagrant and severe violation of Israeli sovereignty.”

It said the army had boosted its presence and readiness and was prepared for “various scenarios.”

The operation could take weeks, an Israeli military source said.

Its Arabic media spokesman posted a message on Twitter warning the Lebanese army and Hezbollah to stay away, saying: “Your lives are in danger, you have been warned.”

In September, Netanyahu identified three locations in Lebanon where, he said, Hezbollah was converting “inaccurate projectiles” into precision-guided missiles. Last month he also hinted at an upcoming Israeli offensive during a televised address, but did not give details.

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Last year, Hezbollah’s leader said any future conflict with Israel could take place inside Israeli territory, and there would be “no place that is out of reach of the rockets of the resistance or the boots of the resistance fighters.”

Israel’s vulnerability to tunnels was laid bare during its war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza in 2014 when Palestinian militants used dozens of secret passages dug from Gaza into Israel to launch surprise attacks.</s>METULA, Israel (AP) — The Israeli military launched an operation Tuesday to "expose and thwart" tunnels it says were built by the Hezbollah militant group that stretch from Lebanon into northern Israel.

The military said the tunnels were not currently being used by militants and that its work to find and neutralize them was taking place inside Israeli territory. However, the Israeli operation could send tensions soaring between Israel and its Iranian-backed foe, which have both been preoccupied with other conflicts since their last conflagration more than a decade ago.

"We see Hezbollah's activities as a flagrant and blatant violation of Israeli sovereignty" and U.N. resolutions, said Lt. Col Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman. "This activity is another example of the negative effects of Iranian entrenchment in the region."

The military did not disclose how many tunnels snake into Israeli territory from Lebanon, nor reveal details of the operation that could last for weeks, it said. Troops were reinforced along the border and later Tuesday, the military announced the first tunnel had been uncovered and would be demolished.

Conricus said the tunnel, outfitted with electricity, a ventilation pipe and a communication cable, was about 200 meters (220 yards) long, at a depth of 25 meters (80 feet) and was about 2 meters (6 feet) high.

The tunnel's exit point was found in a patch of farmland southwest of the pastoral Israeli border town of Metula, the military said.

Lebanese troops and military intelligence agents, along with U.N. peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon, were observing the border Tuesday, a Lebanese military official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Israel has spent years attempting to tackle a network of tunnels from the Gaza Strip into Israel and has used several methods to destroy tunnels and prevent them from being rebuilt, from using earthmovers and other large machinery to building a massive wall along its northern border. The barrier, Israel says, is needed to protect civilians from Hezbollah attacks. While the construction has prompted complaints from the Lebanese army, Hezbollah has not responded — an indication it could remain restrained amid the new operation.

Israel, meanwhile, gave no special orders to residents of northern Israel, signaling that it too was not expecting an immediate response from Hezbollah.

Israel has tracked the tunnels' development for years. Conricus said that Hezbollah has been developing an offensive plan that would "shift the battleground into Israel," using firepower and ground units.

"The surprise component of that plan was supposed to be tunnels that would allow infiltrators into Israel," he said.

He added that Israel has investigated the possibility of underground Hezbollah tunnels since 2013 and that a task force established in 2014 has been searching for them for more than two years. He did not explain why the operation to uncover the tunnels started now.

Near Metula, bulldozers and military vehicles were seen working and residents of the area told Israeli media they had been hearing digging noises for years and had reported their suspicions to the military.

The Israeli operation began hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a snap trip to Brussels to meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in which the two discussed "ways to halt together Iranian aggression in the region," including in Lebanon. Netanyahu's office said Tuesday the Israeli leader updated Pompeo on the operation.

"Whoever tries to attack the state of Israel will pay a heavy price," he said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah. Its Al-Manar TV quoted Israeli media reports on the operation.

An official from the so-called "Axis of Resistance" — a grouping led by Iran and made up of Syrian officials, Iraq Shiite militias, Hezbollah and other groups — said Hezbollah fighters were "on high alert to confront any possible Israeli aggression." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the group's military activities with the media.

Malene Jensen, spokeswoman for the U.N. force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL, said the situation in the peacekeepers' "area of operation remains calm" and that they are in touch with all relevant parties to make sure calm and stability is maintained.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006 that ended in a stalemate. Israel's border with Lebanon has been relatively quiet in the years since, but Israel has continued to identify the Shiite militant group and its expanding weapons cache of tens of thousands of rockets as a major threat.

Israel has long voiced concern about Iran's growing military presence along its northern border, warning of an Iranian corridor that could assist in the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah. Israel has generally refrained from engaging in Syria's civil war, though it has carried out scores of airstrikes against what Israel says were Iranian shipments of advanced weapons bound for Hezbollah.

The operation comes weeks after Netanyahu faced a major crisis in his governing coalition over the handling of a cease-fire with Gaza militants. Amid the crisis he took on the defense portfolio from his resigning minister and promised to pursue a hard line against Israel's enemies during what he described as a "complex" security situation.

Although its attention has been diverted to violent protests along its border with Gaza in recent months, Israel's main security concerns lie to the north, along the border with Lebanon.

Israeli officials have long warned the threat posed by Gaza's Hamas rulers pales in comparison to that of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah — a heavily-armed mini-army with valuable combat experience and an arsenal of some 150,000 rockets that can reach nearly every part of Israel.

Hezbollah meanwhile has also been distracted by the war in Syria, where it has fought fiercely alongside Assad's troops. With Syria's civil war winding down, Hezbollah is now free to re-establish itself back home in Lebanon and refocus on Israel.

Neither side appears interested quite yet in another full-fledged confrontation like the 2006 war, but any skirmish could spark an all-out conflict along the tense border.

Goldenberg reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.</s>The Israeli military has launched an operation meant to “expose and thwart” tunnels built by the Hezbollah militant group and stretching from Lebanon into northern Israel.

The Israeli military has launched an operation meant to “expose and thwart” tunnels built by the Hezbollah militant group and stretching from Lebanon into northern Israel.

The military says the tunnels are not operational and that its work to expose them, which began on Tuesday, was taking place in Israeli territory.

Officers did not disclose how many tunnels snake into Israeli territory from Lebanon or how long the operation would last.

Israel views the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its vast weapons cache as a major threat. The two fought an inconclusive, month-long war in 2006.

The Israeli operation comes hours after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a last-minute trip to Brussels to meet US secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said: “We see Hezbollah’s activities as a flagrant and blatant violation of Israeli sovereignty” and of UN resolutions.

“This activity is another example of the negative effects of Iranian entrenchment in the region.”

Israel has spent years attempting to tackle a network of tunnels from the Gaza Strip into Israel and has used a variety of methods to destroy tunnels and prevent them from being rebuilt.

A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops and military intelligence agents, along with UN peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon, were observing the border on Tuesday.

Israel has been using bulldozers and other large machinery to build a massive wall along its northern border, saying the barrier is needed to protect civilians from Hezbollah attacks.

While the construction has prompted complaints from the Lebanese army, Hezbollah has not responded, an indication it could remain restrained amid the new operation.

Israel, meanwhile, gave no special orders to residents of northern Israel, signalling that it was not expecting an immediate response from Hezbollah.

The existence of the tunnels did not appear to have surprised Israel. Lt Col Conricus said Hezbollah has been developing an offensive plan against Israel that would “shift the battleground into Israel”.

The group would use firepower and ground units and “the surprise component of that plan was supposed to be tunnels that would allow infiltrators into Israel”.

He added that Israel has investigated the possibility of underground Hezbollah tunnels since 2013 and launched a task force which has been working for the last two years searching for them.

Israel has long voiced concern about Iran’s growing military presence along its northern border, warning of an Iranian corridor that could assist in the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah. Israel has generally refrained from engaging in Syria’s civil war, though it has carried out scores of air strikes against what Israel says were Iranian shipments of advanced weapons bound for Hezbollah.

The operation comes weeks after Mr Netanyahu faced a major crisis in his governing coalition over the handling of a ceasefire with Gaza militants.

Amid the crisis he took on the defence portfolio from his resigning minister and promised to pursue a hard line against Israel’s enemies during what he described as a “complex” security situation.</s>Israel's Army Says It Found Tunnels Dug By Hezbollah Beneath Border With Lebanon

Israel has launched a military operation intended to "expose and destroy" a series of tunnels it says Hezbollah dug into Israel from Lebanon, where the militant group is based. The Israel Defense Forces embarked on Operation Northern Shield on Tuesday, surprising observers on both sides of the border.

"Army officials won't say how many tunnels they found, but that Hezbollah has dug them to cross into Israel and carry out attacks," NPR's Daniel Estrin reports from Jerusalem. He adds that military officials are urging people to go about their business as normal, saying the tunnels are not in use.

"The activity of Hezbollah, building those attack tunnels from Lebanon to Israel, is a blatant violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701," Israeli Foreign Minister Emmanuel Nahshon said on Tuesday, referring to the United Nations resolution that brought an end to Israel's month-long conflict with the Shiite militant group in 2006.

The Israel Defense Forces says it's now working to destroy the tunnels. After discovering the secret underground routes, the army live-streamed a video feed from the site, with IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus speaking in front of Israel's "blue line" border wall.

The tunnels were dug "from within civilian houses in Lebanon into Israel," Conricus said, calling it a tactic that was born out of the end of the 2006 war. The tunnels are proof, he added, that bolsters Israel's long-held opinion that Hezbollah's military strategy includes using civilian infrastructure.

In response to the operation, Hezbollah said it would not change its behavior in southern Lebanon, according to Ynet News.

Citing the Shehab News Agency, the Israeli news site quoted a senior Hezbollah official as saying, "We are closely monitoring the enemy's activities in the area. The resistance is capable of retaliating to any Israeli aggression, and cause Israel severe damage."

The IDF's very public unveiling of Operation Northern Shield comes after four years of monitoring Hezbollah's activities, Conricus said.

"This is the first day of the operation," he added. "We assume that it will take quite a long time to expose and destroy all of these tunnels. We will continue to do so until all of the tunnels are destroyed."

As NPR's Estrin reports, "All this comes hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels and discussed Iran's involvement in the region. Iran backs Hezbollah, which Israel says has amassed thousands of rockets since 2006."

Operation Northern Shield "is not expected to spark an escalation" between the IDF and Hezbollah, according to Haaretz, which adds, "The question is how Iran will respond."

Suggesting the military operation had been long-planned, the newspaper also said military censors had recently imposed "heavy restrictions" that limited its ability to report on the IDF's plan to destroy the tunnels.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas have used tunnels as part of a clandestine supply chain and to aid attacks on targets in Israel. In 2014, Israel's military mounted a campaign to find and destroy tunnels from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Hamas has also used tunnels between Gaza and Egypt to amass guns and other weapons.</s>The Israeli military has launched an operation meant to “expose and thwart” tunnels built by the Hezbollah militant group and stretching from Lebanon into northern Israel.

The military says the tunnels are not operational and that its work to expose them, which began on Tuesday, was taking place in Israeli territory.

The military did not disclose how many tunnels snake into Israeli territory from Lebanon or how long the operation would last. Israeli soldiers patrol at the village of Maroun el-Rass on the Lebanon-Israel border (AP)

Israel views the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its vast weapons cache as a major threat. The two fought an inconclusive, month-long war in 2006.

The Israeli operation comes hours after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a last-minute trip to Brussels to meet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.</s>Hours after announcing the operation, Israel’s military said it had begun work to neutralize such a tunnel near the Israeli town of Metula, which sits right along the border. The military said the tunnel began in a civilian house in the Lebanese village of Kafr Kela, immediately west of Metula.

CNN crews witnessed excavators and heavy machinery operating on the Israeli side of the border wall between the two locations.

The tunnel entered Israeli territory, the military said, but it did not pose an immediate threat to Israeli civilians.

Its cross-sectional dimensions were two meters by two meters, IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said in a conference call with reporters, making it taller and wider than tunnels dug by Hamas under the Israel-Gaza border. The tunnel’s length was estimated to be 200 meters long, Conricus said.

“This is the first of what are sure to be many cross-border attack tunnels dug from Lebanon by Hezbollah into Israel,” Conricus added. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement called the tunnels a “gross violation of Israeli sovereignty and of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701,” a reference to the resolution that ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-funded militant group and political party, in 2006. A statement from the Foreign Ministry, which is led by Netanyahu, said it held the Lebanese government responsible for all activities conducted inside Lebanese territory. Netanyahu said he had discussed Operation Northern Shield with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying, “there is a need to end Iranian aggression in Syria, in Iraq, in Lebanon, and in other places.” He added, “Whoever tries to harm the state of Israel will pay a heavy price.” The Israeli military says that “Northern Shield” is part of a bigger defense effort intended to secure Israel’s border. in the past few years, Israel has built a defense wall along sensitive portions of the border, created cliffs, and cleared vegetation. Netanyahu has often targeted Hezbollah in recent speeches, including at the United Nations General Assembly in September, when he accused Hezbollah of placing missile facilities near residential neighborhoods in the Lebanese capital Beirut, a charge Hezbollah and the Lebanese government denied. A senior Hezbollah official told CNN that the group was “surprised” by the operation, adding that they had observed Israeli movements on the other side of the border, with Israeli forces using dogs and sensors in what appeared to be an attempt to search for tunnels. “They’re worried we’re digging tunnels,” the official said, without confirming or denying whether they were. Hezbollah-owned Al Manar TV proceeded with regular programming, even airing a report about traffic problems in Lebanon while news of Israel’s operation broke. A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the operations were taking place inside Israeli sovereign territory. Residents in northern Israel have been told they do not need to take precautions, but can get on with their daily lives. A number of areas adjacent to the northern Israel security fence have been declared “closed military zones.” US National Security Advisor John Bolton said he supported the Israeli operation and criticized what he described as Iran’s “regional aggression.” “The US strongly supports Israel’s efforts to defend its sovereignty, and we call on Hezbollah to stop its tunneling into Israel and to refrain from escalation and violence,” Bolton said Tuesday. “More broadly, we call on Iran and all of its agents to stop their regional aggression and provocation, which pose an unacceptable threat to Israeli and regional security.” The United Nations peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon, UNIFIL, told CNN it was “aware of the reports.” “UNIFIL is liaising with all relevant interlocutors to ensure that the parties use the UNIFIL liaison and coordination mechanisms to maintain the continued calm and stability. The situation in UNIFIL’s area of operation remains calm,” said UNIFIL spokesperson Malene Jensen. Lebanon’s army said it was monitoring the situation. “There is nothing going on our side … we are monitoring the situation and working with UNIFIL,” Lebanese army spokesperson Colonel Fadi Abou Eid told CNN.
Israel announces an operation to clear Hezbollah tunnels from Lebanon-Israeli border.