Israeli forces destroy Hezbollah compound in southern Lebanon

Several weapon-storage facilities were located, including one embedded inside a mosque, where hundreds of explosives, rifles, grenades, and more military equipment were being stored.

By Joshua Marks, JNS

Israeli forces destroyed an underground Hezbollah command and control facility in Southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday night.

Engineering troops from the 91st Division’s 188th Brigade located a tunnel dozens of meters long that led to the command center, which according to the military was used by the Iranian proxy to plan attacks and direct rocket fire at Israeli communities in the Galilee over the past year.

Weapons, surveillance systems and additional military equipment were confiscated during the operation.

Nearby, several weapons storage facilities were located, including one embedded inside a mosque, where hundreds of explosives, rifles, grenades and more military equipment were being stored.

After soldiers from Yahalom, a special forces unit of the Combat Engineering Corps, investigated the compound, engineering troops destroyed the command center and tunnel.

The IDF emphasized that 188th Brigade troops “continue to act to remove threats in Southern Lebanon in accordance with the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and the conditions of the ceasefire.”

On Tuesday, an IDF aircraft struck a Hezbollah terrorist in Southern Lebanon he was observed loading weapons into a car. The IDF stressed that the Iranian-backed terror group’s presence in the area “violated the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese daily Al Akhbar reported that a drone had struck a vehicle in the village of Majdal Zoun. According to the report, two people were wounded in the strike.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal reached with Beirut on Nov. 26, Israeli forces are to withdraw gradually from the country over a 60-day period.

Hezbollah must retreat north of the Litani River, about 20 miles north of the border, while the Lebanese Armed Forces deploy along the 75-mile frontier, along with monitors from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL.

On Monday, the IDF announced that after three months in Lebanon, its 98th Division was redeploying to the Gaza Strip. The military said that the division had dismantled more than 300 Hezbollah sites in Lebanon.

Israeli ground forces entered Southern Lebanon in early October after a year of incessant Hezbollah rocket, suicide drone and missile attacks.