By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army said on Tuesday evening that it discovered a Hezbollah tunnel extending 10 meters from southern Lebanon into Israeli territory.
A military statement said that the army “located and dismantled a Hezbollah underground tunnel that crossed approximately 10 meters from the Marwahin area in Lebanon into Israeli territory near the Zar'it community.”
The tunnel, which was located several months ago, is blocked at the border area and does not have an exit point into Israeli territory.
“The tunnel was under full operational control until the arrival of the soldiers in the area to prevent its use for terrorist activities,” the statement claimed.
The army noted that no exit had been discovered on the Israeli side.
“At this stage, aside from this tunnel, no other tunnels crossing from Lebanon into Israel are known,” the statement said.
Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing more than 1,250 people, injuring 3,618 others, and displacing more than 1.2 million people.
The aerial campaign was an escalation in yearlong cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 42,000 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.
At least 2,119 people have since been killed and 10,019 others injured in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.
Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct. 1 a ground invasion into southern Lebanon.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio