WarSclerotic

Lebanese-based terrorist group Hezbollah on Tuesday mocked the Israeli operation ‎working to neutralize its grid of terror tunnels, ‎saying the IDF is “trying to quell public panic ‎with cement mixers.”‎

Operation Northern Shield, launched on Dec. 4, aims ‎to detect and destroy underground passageways dug ‎by the Shiite terrorist group under the Israel-‎Lebanon border. So far, four large tunnels have been ‎detected and operations to seal them off are ‎ongoing. ‎

The IDF said the operation was open-ended and ‎stressed that it was being conducted solely on the ‎Israeli side of the border. ‎

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said that as long as ‎the operation remains confined to the Israeli side, there is no reason for it to trigger a security escalation on the ‎border. ‎

AFP

Hezbollah has remained silent since the operation began, ‎but on Tuesday, its information office published a ‎statement on the Iranian sponsored Al-Aalam Al-Arabi TV ‎channel.

“The Zionist occupation army has so ‎far used 190 cement mixers to pour hundreds of tons ‎of concrete with aim of sealing tunnels along the ‎border,” the statement said.‎

‎”The enemy is doing this to try and quell public ‎panic and the fear felt among its military ‎commanders over reports saying the tunnels reach ‎Israeli territory.”‎

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ‎members of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet toured ‎the northern sector on Tuesday and observed the ‎IDF’s work. ‎

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, GOC ‎Northern Command Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick and several ‎other senior officers briefed them on the progress ‎of Operation Northern Shield. ‎

‎”We are here in the Northern Command on a cabinet tour. The IDF briefed us on the actions ‎taken to neutralize the tunnels. This operation is ‎mostly behind us,” Netanyahu said.‎

He lauded the “exceptional work done here to deny ‎Hezbollah the tunnels weapon – it has invested ‎greatly in this project and we have destroyed it.”‎