WarSclerotic

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday vowed to take additional steps, including clandestine operations, to protect Israel against Hezbollah’s efforts to attack the Jewish state, hours after IDF started a large-scale operation to destroy cross-border attack tunnels constructed by the Shiite terrorist organization.

“Anyone who tries to harm the State of Israel will pay a heavy price,” he said in a statement, his first public comment on Operation Northern Shield.

“We act with determination and responsibility in all areas simultaneously. We will continue with other actions, overt and covert, in order to ensure Israel’s security,” he said, adding that there had been early “successes” in the operation.

Netanyahu, who also serves as defense minister and foreign minister, returned to Israel from Brussels early on Tuesday, after a snap meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during which the two discussed the operation.

The prime minister told the US diplomat Monday said that the tunnels were “a flagrant violation of Israeli sovereignty and UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” according to a readout provided by Netanyahu’s office.

Netanyahu further told Pompeo that Tehran’s aggression also needed to be confronted in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pictured in front of a menorah on the second night of the Hanukkah festival, during their meeting on the sidelines of a NATO conference in Brussels, Belgium, on December 3, 2018. (Gaby Farkash/GPO)

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said Tuesday that Israel was not seeking war, and blamed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal for providing the Islamic Republic with cash that was used to help Hezbollah built its terror tunnels.

“Hezbollah is digging tunnels for terror purposes from Lebanon into Israel,” the ministry said in a statement, saying these acts constitute “a severe attack on Israel’s sovereignty” and violate UN Resolutions 1701, which ended the 2006 war with Hezbollah, and 1559, which called on Hezbollah to cease militant activity in 2004.

“Israel is conducting defensive actions within its sovereign territory. Israel has the right to defend itself and is not interested in escalation,” the ministry’s statement read.

Hezbollah has worked on “a broad expansion of its subterranean terror infrastructure” since the 2006 Lebanon War, the statement read, accusing the group of acting as Iran’s proxy.

“Hezbollah is building these terror tunnels in order to attack Israel, take Israeli citizens hostage and spread terror. Hezbollah’s tunnel project is another example of the dangerous strengthening of Hezbollah that is funded, supported and directed by Iran,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“Hezbollah has taken control of Lebanon and is pushing an Iranian agenda to turn that country into a base for attacks against Israel. Its actions harm Lebanon and threaten to make the tremendous investments of the international community worthless,” the statement went on.

The ministry said Iran was funding Hezbollah using money “billions of dollars it received as part of the nuclear deal,” referring to the 2015 accord that lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on nuclear activity.

This picture taken on December 4, 2018 from the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila shows a view of Israeli machinery operating behind the border wall in Israel (R). (Photo by Ali DIA / AFP)

The statement accused Hezbollah of committing “a double war crime” as it operates from “within Lebanon’s civilian population, in order to harm Israel’s civilian population.”

Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for all activities conducted inside the country, the ministry said, but the tunnels’ existence proved that its army was not up to the task of making sure the terror group does not operate in southern Lebanon.

“Israel has been monitoring Hezbollah’s intentions and attack tunnel activities for years. The current operation will continue as necessary, along with construction of a northern border obstacle.”

The statement did not mention UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force also charged with keeping Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon.

However, the ministry instructed the Israeli mission to the United Nations to write to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in order to protest the “aggression from Lebanese territory,” ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon said.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani struck a defiant stance against US sanctions on Tuesday, renewing his threat to cut off international oil sales from the Gulf.

“America should know… it is not capable of preventing the export of Iran’s oil,” Rouhani said at a televised rally in Semnan province.

“If it ever tries to do so… no oil will be exported from the Persian Gulf,” he added.

Since the 1980s, Iran has said repeatedly it would blockade the Gulf in response to international pressure but has never carried out the threat.

Washington has reimposed sanctions, including an oil embargo, since withdrawing from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers in May.

It has vowed to reduce Iran’s oil sales to zero, but has granted temporary waivers to eight countries.

Rouhani last threatened to close the Gulf in July when he warned the US “should not play with the lion’s tail.”

The president downplayed the economic impact of sanctions, accusing the media of exaggerating the country’s problems.

“No hyperinflation, no massive unemployment will threaten us. People should stop saying such things in the papers,” he told the crowd.

The latest inflation report from Iran’s central bank says food prices rose 56 percent year-on-year in October.

Rouhani acknowledged there were “some problems,” but said these would be addressed in the new budget plan to be presented on December 16.

He said the government would maintain subsidies on essential goods and increase public sector wages and pensions by 20 percent.

Rouhani, a relative moderate, last month called Israel a “cancerous tumor”established by Western countries to advance their interests in the Middle East.

The president said the United States cultivates close ties with “regional Muslim nations” to protect Israel, an apparent reference to Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia and the kingdom’s Sunni Arab allies. He said bowing to American pressure amounts to “treason.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

The Israeli military on Tuesday said it uncovered the “first of sure to be many” cross-border attack tunnels dug by the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group, this one from under a house in the Lebanese village of Kafr Kila, across from the Israeli town of Metulla.

This was the first tunnel that the Israel Defense Forces has said it discovered as part of a newly launched operation — Northern Shield — to find and destroy the offensive subterranean passages from Lebanon, which the army said are not yet operational and do not present an immediate threat to Israelis.

“At this time, having exposed the tunnel, IDF soldiers are conducting engineering and operational efforts before neutralizing it,” the army said in a statement.

Though for now the army’s activities are limited to the Israeli side of the Blue Line — the internationally recognized armistice line that acts as a de facto border between Israel and Lebanon — IDF Spokesperson Ronen Manelis indicated that other tunnels may be destroyed within Lebanon as well.

“We are prepared for all options, and the operation is only in its first day. The neutralizing of the tunnels will not necessarily take place within our territory,” he said.

The Israeli military dismissed allegations that the timing of Operation Northern Shield was tied to Israeli political developments, notably the recent calls by police to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“There’s no cynicism here,” Manelis said.

According to another IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, the specific timing of the launch of the operation was planned “over a very long period of time.”

The IDF said the “terror tunnel” originated under a Lebanese home in Kafr Kila and extended some 40 meters (130 feet) into Israeli territory.

The army said the tunnel was approximately 200 meters (650 feet) long, some 25 meters (80 feet) deep, and was two meters (six feet) tall by two meters (six feet) wide, significantly larger than most of the tunnels dug by the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

According to the IDF, the tunnel took over two years to excavate — due to the harsh terrain under the border — and contained electrical and communication lines as well as ventilation.

“Hezbollah has been using industrial equipment in order to dig these tunnels. We are beginning to assess and analyze the findings,” Conricus told reporters.

In a tweet in English, the army added that the tunnel was dug “with the intention of harming Israeli civilians.”

The army lauded itself for finding the tunnel. According to Conricus, Hezbollah’s program to build the underground infrastructure was kept “ultra secret” within the terrorist organization.

The IDF spokesman said the IDF’s effort to find and destroy Hezbollah’s tunnels was also kept on a need-to-know basis.

“It was deeply compartmentalized. Only a select few who needed to know were involved in this operation,” Conricus said.

An illustrative map provided by the IDF indicated that the tunnel entered Israeli territory between the communities of Metulla and Misgav Am.

“The tunnel crossed into Israeli territory, but did not present an immediate threat to residents of the area,” the army said.

Earlier, the military said it had found a number of tunnels that entered Israeli territory from Lebanon, but none of them were operational and therefore did not present an immediate danger to Israelis.

On Tuesday morning, the Israeli military launched Operation Northern Shield to uncover and destroy these tunnels. Conricus said the military was, for now, operating within Israeli territory and not entering Lebanon, where the tunnels originate.

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

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 utilized as defensive measures.

“This was part of a surprise component of [Hezbollah’s] plan,” Conricus said.

According to the IDF, 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 damage to Israel itself and for the “symbolism” of having troops carry out attacks inside Israel.

Israeli military digger works on the border with Lebanon in the northern Israeli town of Metula, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018. The Israeli military launched an operation on Tuesday to “expose and thwart” tunnels built by the Hezbollah militant group it says stretch from Lebanon into northern Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Tuesday’s 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 the Hezbollah tunnels.

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.”

A screenshot from a warning video issued by Hezbollah apparently showing satellite imagery of an Israeli airbase superimposed with a target and its map coordinates (Screenshot/Youtube)

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.

Israeli security chiefs were holding security assessments throughout the day Tuesday in order to deal with any possible Hezbollah 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.

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.

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.

An Israeli construction vehicle drives by a concrete wall being built along the ‘Blue Line’ separating Israel and Lebanon, as members of the Lebanese Armed Forces watch from a guard tower, near the Israeli town of Rosh Hanikra on September 5, 2018. (Judah Ari Gross/Times of Israel)

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. Hezbollah is believed to have an arsenal of over 100,000 rockets and missiles.

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

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.

Israeli government officials speculated that the operation would take several weeks.

This picture taken on December 4, 2018, from the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila shows a view of Israeli machinery operating behind the border wall in Israel (R). (Ali DIA / AFP)

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

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.

Conricus blamed Iran for providing the funding and support for Hezbollah’s tunnel program. The Foreign Ministry later released a statement saying the money had come from cash freed up by the 2015 nuclear deal.

According to the IDF, 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.

A Hezbollah officer stands in front an IDF army position, background, as he explains to journalists about the defensive measures established by the Israeli forces, south Lebanon, April 20, 2017. (Hussein Malla/AP)

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.

The last 12 years have seen 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 had reportedly told Pompeo to pass a message to Beirut that Israel would act militarily if it did not crack down on Hezbollah.

The prime minister told the US diplomat Monday said that the tunnels were “a flagrant violation of Israeli sovereignty and UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” according to a readout provided by Netanyahu’s office.

Netanyahu further told Pompeo that Tehran’s aggression also needed to be confronted in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.