Inside Hezbollah’s Tunnels: A Hidden Network Is Glimpsed Beneath Southern Lebanon Homes

AL-KHIYAM VILLAGE, South Lebanon — The clothes are still hanging along the walls inside the store, but everything else lies in ruins. The glass doors are shattered, the front of the building is riddled with bullet holes, and the interior walls are severely damaged.At the back of the store is a shaft leading down to a tunnel built by Hezbollah — one of many uncovered by the Israeli military in recent weeks during operations in Shiite villages in southern Lebanon.“If you just pass by the store on the street, there’s no way to know this is a military asset. We only found it by going inside and digging,” an IDF officer told The New York Sun and other international journalists, who were given rare access to Hezbollah’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon.The opening in the floor is roughly the size of two floor tiles by two. To descend into the pitch-dark shaft, one climbs down a metal ladder to a small landing, where a spiral metal staircase continues deeper into the tunnel.At the bottom, it opens into a tight corridor lined with metal panels on all sides. We are about 10 meters underground but unlike Hamas tunnels, the air is relatively fresh and it’s not hard to breathe due to a large ventilation system. The narrow and low tunnel is just wide enough to move through, with light bulbs hanging along the ceiling and ventilation ducts running overhead.Dozens of batteries, cables, tools, mattresses, and water bottles lie on the floor, giving the impression that the tunnel was designed to be used by Hezbollah members for longer stays. The tunnel was excavated through rocks in the ground, making the effort much harder and more expensive than the tunnels Hamas built in Gaza through sand and soft soil. The IDF officer estimated that the tunnel beneath the clothing store had cost tens of thousands of dollars and years to build. As we reach the end of the tunnel, another metal ladder takes us directly up to the floor of a different shattered building adjacent to the clothing store. According to the IDF officer, the tunnel was used as a “command center” in the village that allowed them to move between the two buildings. A Battle ZoneOutside, on what used to be a paved street, we see the immense destruction caused by the Israeli military. Every building we pass in the part of the village we are shown is either completely destroyed or severely damaged. Old, beautiful Lebanese-style homes have been turned into a war zone resembling parts of Gaza.Despite heavy criticism from human rights groups as well as the Lebanese government, the IDF insists Hezbollah is to blame for the destruction. “What we see here is a very organized and orchestrated military effort by Hezbollah to leverage the civilian population and people’s homes for their plans to attack our communities across the border,” the IDF officer said.The Israeli village of Metula, which was left virtually empty during the most intense round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah following October 7, is just five kilometers from where we stand. From here, Metula suffered repeated anti-tank missile and drone attacks, some of which originated in this village.“We have no other choice but to come to this village and others to neutralize this threat. And to our astonishment, we have found that literally every second house, every second building in this area, is a militarized asset — whether it be an underground facility, a bunker, a post, or an ammunition depot,” the officer said.When asked how the IDF determines what constitutes a military asset, the officer said it is assessed on a case-by-case basis. If a family hides large weapons depots inside its home, it could end up being destroyed.To critics, this illustrates how ruthless the IDF is. For the military, though, preventing future attacks on Israeli villages and towns just a few kilometers from here takes precedence. “A family shouldn’t own AK-47s,” the officer said.Walking through the rubble, past Israeli tanks and dozens of armed soldiers, is a reminder that we are in an active war zone. Earlier in the day, Hezbollah fired several rockets at IDF positions in southern Lebanon. On Tuesday, an Israeli soldier was severely wounded in a Hezbollah drone attack.The IDF, meanwhile, has ramped up its operations against Hezbollah, killing more than 220 of its members in recent weeks, dismantling several tunnels, and confiscating more than 1,000 weapons across southern Lebanon — including RPGs, AK-47s, grenades, machine guns, anti-tank missiles, and explosive devices.The IDF estimates that more than 2,000 Hezbollah members have been killed since the terror group launched its war against Israel on March 2. Hezbollah has fired more than 10,000 rockets, missiles and drones at Israel since then. When confronted with statements by Israeli ministers who have called for expanding the country’s border to the Litani River in southern Lebanon, the IDF officer said that is not part of their mandate.“We have no objective to take over Lebanon. That’s not part of what we’re doing here. We’re here only to make sure there is no threat to our communities. Once Hezbollah is neutralized and disarmed, there will be no reason for us to stay here,” he said.A school bag, a pair of children’s shoes and a doll lie scattered outside the clothing store. In the building next door, dust-covered couches in what used to be a living room stand amid the rubble. The same goes for the kitchen cabinets, which are empty and partially destroyed.The prospects of residents returning to the village remain unclear. Until Israel and Lebanon agree on a plan to keep Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon once and for all, the IDF will most likely continue to control the large buffer zone along the border.

Inside Hezbollah’s Tunnels: A Hidden Network Is Glimpsed Beneath Southern Lebanon Homes

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