Netanyahu reveals Hezbollah’s plan to invade northern Israel

The Israeli Prime Minister confirms the discovery of all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, and missiles inside secret tunnels that were being prepared for an attack.

25th October 2024

5 minutes read

Netanyahu reveals Hezbollah’s plan to invade northern Israel

Israel has revealed a plan by Hezbollah to attack the country through underground tunnels containing all-terrain vehicles and missiles, in an operation similar to the one carried out by Hamas on October 7.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday to networks “CNews” and “Europe 1” that if this plan had succeeded, it would have caused more damage than the unprecedented attack launched by Hamas in southern Israel over a year ago.

According to a simultaneous translation provided by the networks, he added: “100 to 200 meters from the border, we found tunnels that were being prepared to invade Israel. This would have been an even bigger attack than that of October 7,” adding, “with all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, and missiles. They were planning to invade.”

Netanyahu had previously told the French newspaper Le Figaro that the Israeli army had found advanced Russian military equipment in Hezbollah weapons caches.

On Thursday, global powers will meet in Paris to provide urgent humanitarian aid to Lebanon, support its security forces, and push for a ceasefire. However, diplomats said they do not expect significant progress, as the U.S. is focusing on its own efforts.

France has historical ties with Lebanon and works with Washington to try to secure a ceasefire. However, its influence has waned since Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hezbollah in September, displacing thousands of people and killing more than 2,000.

Paris hurriedly organized the conference to demonstrate that it still wields influence in a country it once colonized. But despite the participation of 70 delegations and 15 international organizations, few high-level ministers will attend.

Since Israel intensified its strikes against Lebanon last month, before sending ground forces across the border, the war has claimed the lives of at least 1,552 people, according to statistics based on figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Health, though the actual toll may be higher.

Israel succeeded in eliminating key Hezbollah leaders, including the party’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, and the Iran-backed group recently acknowledged the death of his successor, Hachem Safi al-Din.

On the ground, the Lebanese army announced on Thursday that three soldiers were killed by Israeli gunfire while evacuating the wounded in southern Lebanon, where Israel continues its military operations targeting Hezbollah.

In a statement, the army said: “The Israeli enemy targeted elements of the Lebanese army in the Yater-Bint Jbeil region, in the south, while they were evacuating the wounded, resulting in the death of three soldiers, including an officer.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed his “deep concern” to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Galant on Wednesday about the deaths of the three Lebanese soldiers killed by Israeli gunfire on Sunday.

On Thursday, an Israeli drone targeted a car on an international road connecting Beirut to the mountainous areas and eastern Lebanon, according to official Lebanese media.

The National News Agency reported that an “enemy drone targeted a car on a road” passing through the town of Kahaleh, the main route linking the capital to the Bekaa region (in the east), which has been heavily bombed by Israel since the escalation began a month ago.

Official Lebanese media reported that Israel launched 17 strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Wednesday night, leveling six buildings and targeting an empty office of the pro-Iranian Al-Mayadeen channel, as the war between Israel and Hezbollah entered its first month.

Images showed a massive explosion followed by smaller blasts in the besieged southern suburbs, after the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings for specific areas.

The official National News Agency reported that at least 17 Israeli strikes took place, making it one of the most violent nights in the region since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began on September 23.

It added that six buildings were destroyed around the Lailaki area, describing the strikes as “the most violent in the region since the start of the war.”

The strikes took place shortly after the Israeli army spokesman issued new evacuation warnings for areas in southern Beirut on the X platform. However, there was no warning for the strike targeting the Jinah area in southern Beirut.

This strike killed one person and injured five others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The pro-Iranian channel Al-Mayadeen said in a statement on Wednesday that “an Israeli aggression” targeted one of its offices in Beirut, specifying that it had been evacuated. The channel held “the Israeli occupation” responsible for the attack.

The National News Agency reported that the Al-Mayadeen office was located in a residential building in the Jinah area, adding that it was “completely destroyed” and that a fire broke out inside after being hit by two missiles.

Hezbollah announced on Thursday that it had launched missiles at the cities of Safed and Nahariya in northern Israel, as well as at a military base north of Haifa for the second time in 24 hours.

Hezbollah said in two statements that its fighters had launched a “significant salvo of missiles” toward Safed and Nahariya, and bombarded with rockets “the Zvolon military base north of Haifa,” in response to Israeli attacks on villages in the south and civilian homes.

It added that it was engaged in “close-range” combat with Israeli soldiers inside a Lebanese border village.

In another statement, it specified that its fighters had been engaged in “violent clashes since 12:00 Thursday in the village of Aita al-Shaab with various weapons,” adding that the fighting was ongoing. It also stated that its fighters had destroyed a Merkava tank after another unit intervened to provide support, specifying that this was the second tank destroyed since Thursday morning.

Israel, for its part, acknowledged that settlers had been seriously injured after rockets were fired from Lebanon at the western Galilee region in the north of the country.