Rab El Thalathine, LEBANON—The extensive Hezbollah tunnel system built below the Lebanese Shi’ite village of Rab El Thalathine is near an outpost of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and less than 1.5 miles from the northern Israel city of Kiryat Shmona.
UNIFIL’s mandate includes confirming Hezbollah demilitarization, supporting Lebanese army operations against insurgents and weapon smuggling, and ensuring that the government of Lebanon restores its authority in southern Lebanon. That is to say, UNIFIL is supposed to prevent the Hezbollah military buildup that dominated Rab El Thalathine until a few weeks ago.
Israel’s government notes that UNIFIL, whose mission expanded to disarm Hezbollah after the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, has failed to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.
Ten shafts in this underground labyrinth stretch into civilian homes, where ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades, and AK-47 assault rifles were found, said an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman.
MEF Observer gained access to this conflict zone as part of a journalist embed with the IDF on Monday evening and early Tuesday.
The tunnel system, discovered by the IDF a mere week ago, is more than half a mile long and between 40 and 130 feet deep. An IDF soldier said, “It is the biggest one we have found until now.”
“We can obviously see the fingerprints here of the Iranian regime with the loads of weapons that have been flown into here.”
Intense firefights unfolded between the IDF and Hezbollah terrorists in the tunnel before the Israeli soldiers “overcame the last four terrorists who were here,” said an army spokesman. It took a few days to clear the tunnel of terrorists. The IDF “captured three terrorists” just short of two miles from the tunnel.
“Here are Iranian weapons systems,” he said, pointing to a stockpile of arms. “We can obviously see the fingerprints here of the Iranian regime with the loads of weapons that have been flown into here by them instead of helping Lebanon become a beautiful country.” The IDF spokesman continued: “We found long-range missiles here that can easily be fired into the Galilee.”
The Hezbollah terrorists “dressed up as civilians, came into here and got their uniforms and weapons systems and their plans to infiltrate Israel,” said the spokesman. The battle to seize the tunnel “saved the lives of thousands of Israelis.”
The tunnel system can lodge more than 500 terrorists, and the food storage was enough to last for weeks, the IDF said. Crates of canned food filled a sizable part of one room.
Kiryat Shmona is largely a ghost town; Hezbollah aggression forced 60,000 Israelis to abandon their homes in 43 northern communities.
MEF Observer approached Kandice Ardiel, deputy spokesperson for UNIFIL, for a comment. She said UNIFIL has outposts along the border where MEF Observer embedded.
“The implementation of Resolution 1701 is the responsibility of the parties. Peacekeepers support the parties’ implementation and monitor and report on violations,” Ardiel said. “This is what we have done, and what we continue to do even now. We do not have the mandate to enforce the resolution. The Security Council has not asked us to disarm Hezbollah or prevent Israeli incursions by force.”
UNIFIL is an “anti-Israel and anti-Jewish” mission that is afraid to deal with the local Lebanese community.
When asked about an Israel Hayom media report that Hezbollah bribed UNIFIL personnel to exploit their positions against Israel, Ardiel said, “I would take anonymous stories with a grain of salt. Peacekeeping is challenging work, particularly in the area in which UNIFIL operates. Peacekeepers are impartial, though that has not stopped both sides from accusing us of supporting or spying for the other. Nonetheless, we will investigate any allegation based on credible evidence.”
Edy Cohen, a Lebanese-born Israeli scholar of Hezbollah, told MEF Observer UNIFIL is an “anti-Israel and anti-Jewish” mission that is afraid to deal with the local Lebanese community.
He said Hezbollah bought the houses on the Lebanese side of the Israeli border with Iranian money. Hezbollah dug tunnels not only to raid Israel but to be used to conquer northern Israel, he added. Cohen considers Hezbollah “more dangerous” than Hamas because the Lebanese group has more weapons, including drones, and is backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Walid Phares, an expert on Iran and Lebanon, told MEF Observer, “The mission of UNIFIL is to ensure on both sides that there are no preparations for invasions, and they stop any clash. What I call UNIFIL is ‘Club Med,’ meaning they are well-installed, well-fed and they receive their budget, and they have never stopped any war.
“UNIFIL has not stopped the Hezbollah penetration, nor did they stop the [former] Syrian occupation [of Lebanon], and they did not stop the 1982 PLO attacks against Israel [from southern Lebanon that triggered war] … and on and on, all the way until now,” Phares, who has advised U.S. presidential candidates, continued. He noted that Hezbollah controls the Lebanese state.
He said UNIFIL was not able to implement any of the Security Council resolutions, including 1701, that tasked UNIFIL with dismantling Hezbollah along the border. Some of the governments that are participants in UNIFIL are not keen to clash with Hezbollah, he noted.
“UNIFIL has also been accused of bureaucratic mismanagement and corruption,” Phares said.
