SPECIAL ENVOYMENT TO THE GOLAN HILLS, ISRAEL* Tunnels were once an effective weapon in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.. In the last five years alone Israel discovered more than twenty structures built under the limits with the Gaza Strip It’s like Lebanonbuilt by Hamas It is Hezbollahor Ö Estao entered one of those tunnels into which Golan Heightsalong with a delegation of Brazilian journalists who traveled to Israel at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The tunnel, which is open to visitors, is controlled by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the latest discovery after five others was on the country’s northern border with Lebanon, just below the blue line established by decision of UN Security Council which ended the Lebanon War in 2006. In addition to these six, another 22 have been found in the Gaza Strip in recent years.
Located in the village of Shtula, the tunnel has a steep and risky descent due to the mud caused by the constant humidity of the place. Despite this, it has a complex structure: the staircase was built of concrete, there are pipes for ventilation, power and communications with the outside world, which, according to General Alon Friedman, who led the visitation, were built entirely manually by Hezbollah. This is the only tunnel open to visitors as the other five have been cordoned off with concrete.
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The entrance is just under the huge wall built by Israel to separate the border with Lebanon. Only the door and the metal staircase at the entrance, less than two meters long, were built by Israeli forces, the rest is a Hezbollah building, as indicated by signs scattered along the way.
Only the electricity in the tunnel was replaced with Israeli electricity for safety reasons, Friedman says. The fact that we walked less than two meters to reach the beginning of the tunnel shows how close the group got to the surface, he adds.
although it has 70 meters deepThe descent is only possible up to 45 meters as the rest has been blocked with tons of concrete by the Israeli army. According to Friedman, the 45meter limits are just below the blue line set by the UN to separate the borders.
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Concrete stairs and handrails were built by Hezbollah members, only the electric lights were replaced Photo: Carolina Marins/Estadão
Operation Northern Shield
The structure is one kilometer long and starts in a house in the village ramyehin southern Lebanon and exit near the Golan Heights in the north, from which Israel conquered Syria in 1967. “The strategy was to place their equipment and party members in the villages of Lebanon to build the tunnels that would allow them to enter our territory in a surprise maneuver,” the general explained.
The discovery came in 2019 after Golan Heights residents reported shaking in the region. The Israeli government already suspected there might be tunnels in the site, having discovered the same structures in the south of the country War in the Gaza Strip 2014. After the denunciations, the army began the Operation Northern Shielddedicated solely to searching through the tunnels.
After confirming the existence of excavation activity, the difficulty was to precisely locate the tunnels without crossing the border with Lebanon, which would violate the ceasefire established by the UN.
“Fortunately, in 2017, our military intelligence industry developed topsecret technology that allowed us to locate the tunnels in Gaza. When we finished the operation there, we brought the technology here,” he explained, without going into details of the technology. According to him, the difficulty on the Golan was greater because the terrain consists of stone mountains, which are very different from the sandy terrain of Gaza.
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The entrance to the tunnel is just below the wall separating Israel from Lebanon, which Israel says would violate UN Resolution 1701. Photo: Carolina Marins/Estadão
The technology, explained former IDF spokesman Jonathan Concrius, makes it possible to scan through the air for the presence of tunnels and then attack the army with rockets or other weapons trying to bring down the structure. Since the technology was developed, 22 tunnels have been found in the Gaza Strip, according to the military, where the risk of new construction is still a concern.
“This was a very effective weapon that Hamas and the Islamic Jihad They worked for decades,” says the military officer, now stationed in the Gaza Strip. “They are very good at it and there is a whole industry in Gaza of workers and contractors with a lot of accumulated knowledge for excavation.” An industry that Israel says costs millions of dollars, with funding coming from the will.
The operation in the north began in December 2018 and ended in January 2019 with the discovery of the sixth tunnel, considered by the IDF to be the most challenging. This is the one available for controlled visit.
Hezbollah’s response
At the time, Israel condemned the construction of the tunnels as a direct violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1701. The resolution established the Blue Line on the IsraelLebanon border to allow Israeli forces to withdraw and the Lebanese government to regain control of the occupied territory.
The Israeli Defense Forces estimate that construction of the tunnels began between 2013 and 2014, according to Hezbollah leader Hassam Nasrallah, deny. He laughed at the Israeli army’s findings at the time, saying they were not new as Hezbollah’s practice of building tunnels was well known. But he said they came before the breakup.
“The Israelis have discovered several tunnels after many years, and that’s no surprise,” Nasrallah told Beirutbased Arabic broadcaster alMayadeen in 2019. “The surprise is that it took some time to find these tunnels. One of the tunnels discovered in the last few weeks is 13 or 14 years old.”
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The structure has pipes for air, water and communication with the outside world. Photo: Carolina Marins/Estadão
He called the Israeli operation a failure but confirmed that his plans were to enter the territory to attack. “Part of our plan for the next war is to get to Galilee, part of our plan that we will be able, God willing. The most important thing is that we have this capacity and have had it for years,” he said, according to translations of the interview, which was made by Western agencies.
Hezbollah is a Shia paramilitary group considered a terrorist by Israel and the US US. The group was instrumental in the rise of the Ayatollahs in Iran Islamic revolution, and its achievement in the country is military. In Lebanon, the group has a political party with seats in Parliament. The last open conflict between Israel and Hezbollah was, of all things, the 2006 war, but tensions on the border and in the USA keep flaring up war in Syria.
For Israel, Hezbollah like its leader Nasrallah is Iran’s tool to destroy Israel. Iran and Israel have been at war quietly since the 1970s, yet the border with Lebanon has been relatively quiet since the UN peace deal. Very different from the situation in Gaza and West Bankwhere the conflict has been escalating since returning from Benjamin Netanyahu along with an ultrareligious farright coalition to government.
But despite the perceived calm, Israeli forces showed unrest with the presence of a delegation of foreign journalists at the border. After visiting the tunnel, it was possible to see an alleged member of Hezbollah observing the scene with binoculars and a camera. However, it could only be official forces from Lebanon or Lebanon United Nations Interim Force in Lebanonunder the rules of Resolution 1701.
*The reporter arrived at the invitation of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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Signs reading “Hezbollah’s Original Infrastructure” can be seen throughout the descent. Photo: Carolina Marins/Estadão