Israel tells Lebanon and UN peacekeepers to destroy attack tunnel

Israel told Lebanon’s army and UN peacekeepers on Thursday (Dec. 6) to destroy a tunnel it said had been dug by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement across the border into Israeli territory, Reuters reported.

Israel’s military said this week it had identified a number of passages and sent diggers and troops close the frontier to block them.

The peacekeepers, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), confirmed the existence of a tunnel near the “blue line” frontier between the two countries in a statement on Thursday, describing it as a “serious occurrence”.

Israel said its operation would stop on its side of the border. But Israeli media on Wednesday quoted a unnamed senior official saying Israel could broaden its actions into Lebanon.

There was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah or Lebanese authorities.

The Israeli military said in a statement it “holds the Lebanese government, the Lebanese Armed Forces and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon responsible for all events transpiring in and emanating from Lebanon.”

It added that one of its commanders had showed one of the tunnels to the head of UNIFIL, Major-General Sefano Del Col.

All parties say the situation has remained calm on both sides of the border. But the Israeli operation has focused attention on a frontier across which Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006.