The Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, stated this Friday that the country is fully ready to escalate its military operations against Hezbollah, after blowing up the militia's network of tunnels with explosives on the strategic ridge of Ali Taher, located in the district of Nabatiyé, in southern Lebanon.
"Now we have a solid security zone, stronger than ever, that allows us to protect communities from attacks and direct fire, while also enabling us to control and threaten Hezbollah deep within its territory. We are ready and prepared to continue the campaign and keep attacking Hezbollah," he expressed.
Katz took the opportunity to convey his recognition to the military commanders, to the Northern Command, and to the troops that have "fought with heroism and professionalism" during the operation in Ali Taher. "More details about this will be known in the future; not everything can be revealed, but the enemy has been eliminated and its tunnels have been destroyed," he argued.
The Defense official emphasized that Israel now has a security strip "that extends from the coast in the west to the Beaufort Castle and the foothills of Mount Hermon, in the east. "The Israel Defense Forces are still on the ground, blowing up all their tunnels, destroying houses that served as their strongholds and their military posts in the area," he said.
According to the Israeli Armed Forces, 1,100 tons of explosives were used to demolish Hezbollah's underground network on this ridge. The Shiite group is said to have built there a "strategic infrastructure over two decades, financed and designed by the Iranian terrorist regime."
The detonation generated a seismic event of magnitude 4.1 on the Richter scale, recorded around 18:08 hours (local time), with an epicenter 13 kilometers west of Nabatiyé and at a depth of ten kilometers, according to data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The operation was carried out after Israeli forces took control of the strategic Beaufort Castle, located next to the Litani River and known as Qalat al Shaqif, one of the nerve centers of the Lebanon War of 1982 and the scene of intense fighting between the Israeli Army and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
On June 26, Lebanon and Israel reached, with the mediation of the United States, a preliminary agreement that lays the foundations for a permanent ceasefire. The understanding includes restoring full Lebanese sovereignty in the south of the country, as well as the disarmament of Hezbollah, a demand that the Shiite group has outright rejected amid the current dynamic of cross attacks.