Israeli forces have carried out raids in Lebanon for months, military says

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli forces have been carrying out raids into southern Lebanon for months, uncovering Hezbollah tunnels and weapon caches under homes and uncovering invasion plans by the group, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday.

Hagari said the details were being declassified, hours after Israel announced a ground operation against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Dozens of such operations had uncovered detailed plans by Hezbollah to enter Israel and carry out an attack similar to the one led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year.

“Our soldiers entered Hezbollah’s underground infrastructure; exposed Hezbollah’s hidden weapons caches and seized and destroyed the weapons including advanced, Iranian-made weapons,” Hagari said.

The findings and evidence discovered under homes in villages in southern Lebanon during the raids will be presented to the international community, Hagari said.

Hagari showed videos filmed on troops’ body-cameras from what he said were Hezbollah tunnels under three Lebanese villages that lie across the border from three Israeli towns. The forces also found maps marking Israeli communities and army posts, he said.

“The operations that we de-classified tonight are only a small number of dozens of operations that we will reveal going forward, including the destruction of Hezbollah’s strategic assets and capabilities,” he said.

Hagari said that the ground raids would continue until tens of thousands of uprooted Israelis living near the border are able to return safely to their homes, but that the military’s aim was to complete them as fast as they can.

“We’re not going to Beirut. We’re not going to the cities in southern Lebanon. We are focusing on the area of those villages next to our border,” said Hagari.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by James Mackenzie and Timothy Heritage)