Hizbullah Bunkers Found Inside Israel Territory

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
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TEL AVIV — Hizbullah succeeded in digging bunkers into Israeli territory without the knowledge of the military.

Military sources said the Israeli military found two bunkers dug by Hizbullah within Israeli territory. The bunkers, believed to have been constructed over the last 18 months, were destroyed on Jan. 26, Middle East Newsline reported.

"In the past two days, IDF [Israel Defense Forces] units conducted searches in Israeli territory beyond the security fence, along the western part of the international border with Lebanon," a military statement said on Jan. 26. "The forces uncovered two connected bunkers which had been used by the Hizbullah terrorist organization, apparently as a forward base for its operations."

The statement said the military found food, shovels and other equipment in the Hizbullah bunkers. The military's engineering unit destroyed the underground facilities.

The military did not say how Hizbullah was able to construct the bunkers inside Israel. The sources said the bunkers were part of a huge Hizbullah tunnel network that fired Katyusha rockets into Israel throughout the 34-day war in mid-2006. Hizbullah fired 4,500 short- and medium-range rockets, many of them from positions within one kilometer of the Israeli border.

Officers stressed that their search for Hizbullah tunnels was limited to Israeli territory. They did not rule out the prospect of additional Hizbullah bunkers inside Israel.

"The goal of the search operation was to prevent Hizbullah terrorists from returning to posts they manned before the recent war," the statement said. "The operation is part of the IDF's new operational conduct along Israel's northern border, a result of the recent war aimed to increase the effectiveness of defensive activity in the area."

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