JERUSALEM – The Israeli military says thousands of its troops have surrounded an underground Hezbollah fortress beneath the hills of southern Lebanon, trapping dozens of militants inside.
The stand-off is at the heart of intense clashes that have erupted in the area in recent days between US-allied Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The clashes have already threatened to upend delicate progress toward a framework peace agreement between Iran and the United States. Should the confrontation end in a blood bath, it could disrupt those negotiations again.
Despite an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire and even after a halt to out-and-out combat over the weekend, fighting has persisted in the hills this week, particularly on a strategic ridge called Ali al-Taher, just north of the town of Kfar Tebnit.
On June 23, Israeli troops fired on what the military said were Hezbollah operatives in two separate actions in the area, killing at least two people. Hezbollah said that those killed were civilians.
Israeli officials say they believe that the trapped Hezbollah fighters are running out of food and water.
Hezbollah has built one of its largest underground facilities beneath the Ali al-Taher ridge, which is about 10km from the border with Israel, according to two senior Lebanese officials who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Israel says the complex has long been used to orchestrate and launch attacks against its territory.
Hezbollah did not reply to a request for comment.
The ridge overlooks much of south-eastern Lebanon, including the city of Nabatiyeh, which was battered by Israeli strikes for weeks.
The tunnel complex is about 5km north of Beaufort, a Crusader castle on a strategic hilltop that Israel said it captured May 31.
While the seizure of Beaufort was seen as largely symbolic at the time, the Israeli military says it was merely the first step in a ground advance that required a full month and whose ultimate objective was capturing the underground installation near Kfar Tebnit.
Israeli officials say thousands of soldiers are surrounding the complex.
“We assume they are trapped and figuring out what to do,” the military spokesperson said of the Hezbollah fighters. “Whether to battle us, or surrender, or wait for something to change – either because of the ceasefire or if there’s an Israeli withdrawal.” NYTIMES
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
