“Our troops just exposed a SECOND attack tunnel that Hezbollah dug from Lebanon into Israel. Hezbollah planned to use this tunnel to carry out an attack against Israeli civilians. We won't let them,” the IDF tweeted.
Similar to the first tunnel, discovered during the first day of the Northern Shield operation, the facility was not operational and did not pose any immediate threat to Israel, according to Tel Aviv's military.
On Tuesday, Israel announced the launch of an operation codenamed Northern Shield, aimed at destroying trans-boundary tunnels allegedly dug by the Hezbollah movement to secretly transfer militants and weapons inside Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday downplayed the risk posed by the military operation to destroy Hezbollah tunnels of sliding into a broader conflict.
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The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) confirmed the existence of a tunnel extending from Lebanese territory into Israel.
Israel traditionally views Hezbollah’s presence in Lebanon and Syria as a threat to its national security as the movement is backed by Iran, the Jewish state's primary regional rival.
