Israeli troops surround Hezbollah tunnel network in southern Lebanon

Thousands of Israeli troops surrounded a large tunnel network in southern Lebanon as the IDF moved to clear an underground complex near Beaufort Castle.

The IDF said a tunnel complex near Beaufort Castle had multiple levels, water, electricity, anti-tank and anti-aircraft capabilities, and an operating room, and sat six kilometers from Metula. The site had been built over more than a decade with full Iranian funding and planning, and the underground sites formed part of a broader Hezbollah military infrastructure that included command-and-control functions, weapons storage, living quarters and, in some cases, medical facilities and utilities. Israeli officials said some of the structures were positioned in civilian areas near the border and were intended for attacks or a planned incursion into Israel.

Earlier finds included 250 meters of tunnels and facilities used by Hezbollah’s Radwan Forces, which the IDF sealed in October 2024. The IDF later uncovered the largest tunnel network found to date under a Lebanese border village, about 2 kilometers long and roughly 40 meters deep. A separate tunnel in Majdal Zoun measured about 200 meters long and 25 meters deep, with four firing shafts, drones, anti-tank missiles, ammunition and lookout positions.

The fighting unfolded inside a wider ground campaign Israel launched into southern Lebanon on October 1, 2024. Airstrikes and clashes had killed more than 1,700 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million Lebanese. Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel a day after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack, and Israel said its Lebanon operations were meant to prevent a similar cross-border raid from the north.