[IsraelTimes] Troops take journalists on tour of terror group’s underground network as military insists it is working hard to enforce the ceasefire
Deep in a rugged valley of southern Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
, a cave complex offers a small picture of the subterranean infrastructure Hezbollah relied on near the Israeli border, along with the difficult task the country’s army faces as it seeks to disarm the terror group.
Roughly 100 meters (330 feet) long, the complex in the Zibqin area, outfitted with electrical power and ventilated shafts, likely served as a command center and contained a smattering of abandoned equipment including first-aid kits and military jackets.
Weapons there had already been confiscated by the army.
The army took dozens of journalists from local and and international media outlets Friday on a tour of the rugged area along the border. Its troops could be seen in places where Hezbollah once had a heavy military presence.
The Lebanese army has intensified its efforts in areas along the border with Israel, in the volatile area that witnessed the 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Parts of the zone south of the Litani River and north of the border with Israel were formerly a Hezbollah stronghold, off limits to the Lebanese national army and UN peacekeepers deployed in the area.
But since a ceasefire ended the Israel-Hezbollah war a year ago, Lebanon’s army has boosted its presence along the border to nearly 10,000 troops, closed 11 crossing points used for smuggling along the Litani River, and is dealing with huge amounts of unwent kaboom! ordnance, according to several senior army officers.
Israel has carried out almost daily Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM! ...
s since the November 2024 ceasefire, mainly targeting Hezbollah members it says are violating the ceasefire and attempting to rebuild the group’s capabilities.
Hezbollah maintains it no longer has an armed presence south of the Litani River, close to the border.
HEZBOLLAH REJECTS DISARMAMENT PLAN
Hezbollah refuses to discuss full disarmament across Lebanon until Israel stops its attacks and withdraws from five hilltop points that it captured during the war and still holds. Israel says it maintains those points as they are necessary to secure the border from further potential attacks.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas
 ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
attacked southern Israel, with Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. After nearly a year of such attacks and Israeli retaliatory strikes, Jerusalem launched a massive air and ground campaign for two months last year that severely weakened Hezbollah, leading to a November 2024 ceasefire.
In August, the Lebanese government voted in favor of a US-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah. Hezbollah rejected the plan.
Israel has said that Hezbollah is working on rebuilding its capabilities in south Lebanon, has stepped up its strikes and has increasingly warned of consequences should Lebanon fail to rein in the group.
As a result, Beirut has sought to show it is making progress.
"The Lebanese army is making tremendous efforts during this critical period in the history of the region," said Brig. Gen. Nicolas Thabet, Lebanese army commander in the sector south of the Litani River.
The journalists were taken Friday to Zibqin Valley, where Hezbollah once had rocket launchers, tunnels and posts hidden in the bushy region. No presence of the group was visible, and its former posts were either destroyed or now controlled by Lebanese troops.
A nearly 100-meter (328 feet) tunnel inside a mountain, used by Hezbollah in the past, contained what appeared to be a small medical clinic, a ventilation system, power cables, water tankers and large amounts of canned food.
Zibqin Valley is where munitions in an arms depot went kaboom! in August, killing six army experts who were dismantling them.
"We will not abandon our goals no matter what the difficulties are," said Thabet, adding that "the army is making major sacrifices" in one of "the most dangerous parts of the Middle East."
WEAPONS AND TUNNELS DISCOVERED
Army officers told journalists that there have been 5,198 violations by Israel since the ceasefire, including 657 airstrikes. Israel says while Hezbollah does not operate openly, it is constantly violating the truce as part of efforts to rearm and rebuild.
They added that 13,981 housing units were destroyed by the war, in addition to the damage done to infrastructure in border villages.
They said that some of the weapons and ordnance they found were dismantled or detonated while others have been put in storage. Weapons that can be used are taken by the army, they said.
The officers added that the army now has 200 posts south of Litani River, in addition to 29 fixed checkpoints, and it operates patrols around the clock.
On Sept. 5, the army strengthened its efforts in the region after the government’s decision to disarm Hezbollah. Since then, troops have discovered 74 tunnels, 175 rocket launchers and 58 missiles.
Thabet said the army does not enter homes to search them without a judicial order and only do so if they witness illegal activities as they’re taking place.
"Over the past year, no evidence was presented to me of any weapons entering the area south of the Litani after the army’s deployment," Tabet told journalists.
At the same time the army said the land was already awash with weapons and combat equipment.
The army told journalists it has seized around 230,000 items — including weapons, ammunition, rocket launchers and missiles — during search operations over the past year.
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