Report: Hezbollah Tunnels Started Years Before Army Said

The highest echelons of the IDF knew about the construction of Hezbollah cross-border attack tunnels as long ago as before the outbreak of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, according to Channel 13.

In the just-completed Operation Northern Shield to destroy the tunnels, the military said that it became aware of the threat three or four years ago.

The then-head of the army’s Northern Command, Gen. Benny Gantz, was informed in 2005 of Hezbollah’s underground project. The warning came from the adviser to the IDF chief of staff, Col. Yossi Langotsky.

The IDF apparently took no action at the time.

Meanwhile, after the army said that the six existing cross-border tunnels were destroyed, it acknowledges that other tunnels, dug on the Lebanon side but not crossing the border, remain. Israel has demanded that the Lebanese government take responsibility for destroying them.