Smoke rises in late May as a result of an Israeli strike in the south of Lebanon as seen from the Israeli side of the border in the Upper Galilee, Israel. The Israeli military says it has trapped dozens of Hezbollah fighters in an underground complex in southern Lebanon. Photo by Atef Safadi/EPA
June 24 (UPI) — The Israeli military has surrounded an underground base in southern Lebanon in which dozens of Hezbollah militants are trapped, Israeli officials said.
The base is located under the village of Tebnit, in an area where fighting taken place despite an Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire, The New York Times reported. The standoff, if it escalates, could disrupt ongoing peace negotiations between the United States, which backs Israel, and Iran, which backs Hezbollah.
Israeli officials said the trapped militants were running out of supplies. On Tuesday, Israeli troops killed at least two people in the area. Israel said those targeted were Hezbollah operatives, while Hezbollah said they were civilians.
The underground base is beneath the Ali al-Taher ridge, not far from the border with Israel and a strategic point. Israeli officials said Hezbollah built the complex of tunnels over 20 years with Iran’s help.
“From this place, you can launch missiles and munitions at Israel,” Sarit Zehavi, president of the Alma Research and Education Center, said to The New York Times.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli leaders are concerned that operatives in the area could carry out a kidnapping attack against Israel’s forces to help their negotiations for those trapped. Soldiers have been told to stay in pairs or groups at all times.
Israel once occupied the ridge after its 1982 invasion of Lebanon. It was once outside the “buffer zone” that Israel established in Lebanon near the border, but Israeli redrew the line last week to include the ridge, The New York Times reported. Israel considers any armed fighter south of the line a threat and a target.