From Gaza to Lebanon’s ‘Land of Tunnels’: Israel Prepares for a New Underground War

Jerusalem, 20 August, 2024 (TPS) -- Following Hezbollah’s recently-released video highlighting its network of tunnels and underground facilities, experts said the lessons Israel has learned from tunnel warfare in Gaza will be valuable, but that Hezbollah’s underground will be more formidable.

“We’ve gained an immense amount of experience in Gaza dealing with complex underground threats,” Prof. Uzi Rabi, director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University told The Press Service of Israel.

But he stressed to TPS-IL that what has worked in Gaza can’t be easily applied to Lebanon.

“As opposed to Gaza which is flat with sandy soil, Lebanon is covered in stone and extremely mountainous, with forest cover over many areas,” Rabi said. “We’re talking about tunnels at a depth of 40-80 meters built under solid rock… it’s very different from Gaza.” Moreover, he added, Hezbollah’s tunnels are built with Iranian and North Korean assistance and considerably more advanced.

Rabi stressed that Hezbollah is also learning and drawing conclusions from Gaza’s tunnel warfare, noting, “This war has provided them with a view of how the IDF operates against underground tunnel systems.”

However, Tal Beeri, head of the research department of the Alma Research and Education Center, told TPS-IL that Israel’s biggest fear, “a full-scale tunnel-based invasion, is unlikely” because, since October 7, Israel has been on a heightened level of alert.

“Instead, Hezbollah is likely considering a more focused operation in a specific area within Israel,” Beeri said. “From what we saw on October 7 with Hamas, tunnels aren’t even a necessity for launching an invasion.”

Should Israeli forces enter Lebanon, Hezbollah’s tactical and logistical tunnels throughout across the country will raise more risks for troops compared to Gaza, Beeri agreed. “We’re talking about the land of tunnels in Lebanon. Tactical tunnels across the whole country, ready and waiting.”

‘Terrorists Right Next Door’

The prospect of cross-border tunnels, and the presence of Hezbollah so close to the border, has residents of northern Israel on edge. Matan Davidyan, a father of four from Shlomi told TPS-IL that even if Hezbollah’s daily rocket fire stopped, he wouldn’t feel safe returning home.

“Our request to the State of Israel is simply not to return to the situation that existed before October 7, with terrorists right next door waiting to break through the border,” said Davidyan, whose is staying in a hotel in Jerusalem.

“We’re fully aware that there are Hezbollah attack tunnels in the area and that they’re waiting to attack us, like Hamas did on October 7,” Davidyan insisted. “Without some sort of ground operation to push them away from the border, and to destroy the tunnels, there’s no chance whatsoever that my family is going back there.”

Nearly 80,000 Israelis were forced to evacuate their homes near the Lebanon border when Hezbollah began launching rockets and drones in October. Hezbollah leaders have said they will continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes. The attacks have killed 26 civilians and 19 soldiers on the Israeli side.

Israeli officials have been calling for Hezbollah to be disarmed and removed from southern Lebanon in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

In December 2018 Israel exposed six Hezbollah offensive tunnels penetrating into Israeli territory, built with the support of North Korea and Iran. These tunnels were built despite the ongoing presence in southern Lebanon of UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

“Until today, they [UNIFIL] haven’t even closed the openings, on the Lebanese side, of the cross-border attack tunnels,” Beeri said.

According to a 2021 Alma Center report, Hezbollah’s nationwide tunnel network is built according to a North Korean model that includes both offensive tunnels and logistical infrastructure tunnels crisscrossing the entirety of Lebanon. This network includes underground command and control rooms, weapons and supply depots, field clinics and even special shafts used to fire rockets and missiles of all types, including anti-aircraft missiles, the report said.

According to Rabi, Hezbollah’s tunnel network predates the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and the terror group is constantly upgrading it. Hezbollah, said Rabi, “learned a lot relating to geology, building techniques, and more. Now, when Hezbollah builds tunnels they are more difficult to find, much more complex and significantly more resistant to bunker buster bombs.”

He added that Hezbollah’s doctrine is to store their underground assets in civilian areas. “That’s how they protect themselves against Israeli air power. That way, the only way to deal with something like this is a ground invasion, which puts a conventional army like the IDF at a disadvantage because it’s fighting in its enemy’s home territory. You’re talking about a whole other city built underground.”

But he noted, with optimism, “Today, we’re coming to this challenge with a massive, likely unprecedented amount of knowledge on underground warfare. We’re coming to this war with a whole lot of experience.”