WarSclerotic

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday warned ‎Hezbollah against targeting Israel’s counter-tunnel ‎operations near the Lebanese border, saying that the ‎Shiite terrorist group would risk an Israeli ‎retaliation “it cannot even imagine.”‎

A third terror tunnel was discovered snaking under ‎the Israel-Lebanon security fence on Tuesday. The ‎underground passageway was detected as part of ‎Operation Northern Shield, seeking to neutralize ‎Hezbollah’s cross-border tunnels. ‎

Video: Ofer Friman / Frames Production

The IDF did not disclose where the tunnel was found, ‎saying only that it was no longer a threat. ‎

The military further said it has rigged the tunnel ‎with explosives and warned Hezbollah and the ‎Lebanese army against approaching it from their side of the border. ‎

Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi ‎Eizenkot visited the Northern Command on Tuesday, ‎where they were briefed by GOC Northern Command Maj. ‎Gen. Yoel Strick on the progress made since ‎the counter-tunnel operation was launched last week. ‎

Netanyahu said Israel was “methodically dismantling ‎Hezbollah’s tunnel weapon,” and warned the terrorist group not to re-‎establish the front.

“If Hezbollah makes the serious mistake of deciding in ‎any way to attack us or target the [counter-tunnel] ‎operation we have undertaken, it will be hit ‎in a way it cannot even imagine,”‎ he stated

The Shiite terrorist group, he said, “Thought they ‎could dig tunnels uninterrupted. We knew about it and we ‎planned this operation carefully. We’re carrying out ‎exactly what we planned, but we’re also ready for ‎anything. There is considerable firepower here and we are ‎ready for any scenario,” he said, referring to the ‎military deployment near the border. ‎

Netanyahu said an Israeli military delegation is ‎heading to Russia to explain the border operation. ‎

‎”It will make it unequivocally clear that Israel ‎maintains its right and obligation to act against an ‎Iranian military entrenchment in Syria, ‎Hezbollah’s entrenchment in Syria and that of Iran’s ‎proxies here, in their attempt to dig tunnels under ‎the border,” Netanyahu said.‎

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has ‎confirmed the IDF’s findings. ‎

UNIFIL chief Maj. Stefano Del Col issued a statement ‎on Tuesday saying, “This is a serious matter and ‎UNIFIL is working … to ensure that all related facts ‎are objectively determined and diligently addressed ‎in line with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.” ‎

De Col said the inspection of tunnels was a “work in ‎progress” and vowed that UNIFIL will “make every ‎effort to maintain clear and credible channels of ‎communication with both sides so that there is no ‎room for misunderstanding on this sensitive matter.”‎