Last week, the IDF exposed and destroyed two strategic Hezbollah tunnels — in the areas of Qantara and Ras al-Biyada. Another prominent strategic tunnel was uncovered in October 2024 around Rab al-Thalathine, part of a vast underground network that Hezbollah built over many years across southern Lebanon. In the documentations from the tunnels: wide tunnels, command-and-control rooms, field clinics, electricity and ventilation infrastructure, weapons and equipment storage areas, living quarters for operatives, and more — in other words, entire underground military compounds. Hezbollah’s strategic tunnels are part of a massive underground project, which in our special report published in July 2021 we referred to as “The Land of Tunnels” — a military tunnel network built over many years throughout Lebanon in order to enable Hezbollah to conduct combat operations, conceal and transport operatives and weapons, and continue functioning even under intensive attacks (redundancy and survivability). The network consists of dozens, and possibly hundreds, of kilometres of five main types of tunnels: strategic tunnels, regional tunnels, approach tunnels (toward the border), attack tunnels (cross-border), and explosive tunnels. Beyond the functions described above, some of the tunnels also include launch positions for rockets and missiles, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, secure movement routes for forces, and even passageways for small vehicles such as ATVs and motorcycles. Hezbollah’s tunnelling project, which has been underway for at least two decades, was built with Iranian and North Korean assistance. The actual construction was led by Hezbollah’s construction arm, Jihad al-Bina, through civilian engineering companies (Shiite-owned) that served as cover. It is important to understand this is not a localized project, but an entire combat doctrine. Hezbollah invested enormous resources in transforming its core areas of operation — Beirut’s Dahieh, the Beqaa Valley, and southern Lebanon — into a fortified military space above and below ground, while deeply embedding itself within the civilian environment. For further reading, see the special report on Hezbollah’s “Land of Tunnels” – https://israel-alma.org/hezbollahs-land-of-tunnels-the-north-korean-iranian-connection/
