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The Israeli military said it had established operational control over the Ali al-Taher ridge both above and below ground before using more than 1,100 tons of explosives to demolish the underground infrastructure, which included a central command complex belonging to Hezbollah’s Badr unit. According to a joint statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, the site contained dozens of rockets, missiles and drones along with anti-tank missiles, mines and explosive devices. The demolition registered as a 4.1-magnitude seismic event detected across parts of Lebanon, Lebanese state news agency reports indicated. The Israeli military described the complex as featuring weapons storage rooms and living quarters that allowed fighters to remain underground for extended periods.
A Reuters report citing Lebanese security sources noted that Hezbollah had built an underground command centre and weapons stores at the ridge, which overlooks Israeli communities including Metula and Kiryat Shmona. The Israeli assessment found the site was designed over two decades with Iranian funding and planning to serve as a staging base for potential operations into northern Israel. Netanyahu and Katz stated that the destruction completed the consolidation of a security zone in the area, where Israeli troops will remain to prevent hostile forces from returning. The operation followed weeks of clashes at the location where Hezbollah fighters had entrenched themselves.
Ynet News detailed how Israeli forces conducted the multi-month effort involving deception tactics, covert river crossings and commando raids by the Commando Brigade and Yahalom combat engineering unit to clear the ridge. The military estimated that around 50 Hezbollah operatives were in the area at the time, with the overwhelming majority killed during the advance while some who attempted to flee under fog cover were subsequently located. Defence officials highlighted the logistical challenge of transporting the massive quantity of explosives into the zone under constant threat from attack drones.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the US-brokered security agreement reached in late June between Lebanon and Israel, characterising it as a surrender and pledging that the group would maintain its armed resistance, according to multiple regional reports. A Hezbollah spokesperson described the latest Israeli strikes as a flagrant violation of the ceasefire, while reserving the right to defend Lebanese territory. The agreement had called for phased Israeli withdrawals from parts of southern Lebanon coupled with Lebanese army deployments, yet permitted Israeli forces to hold an expanded security zone for the time being.
The September action builds on an earlier strike in late June targeting a 200-metre tunnel in the nearby town of Majdal Zoun, which the Israeli military said contained hundreds of weapons, dismantled UAVs, warheads, explosives and four launch shafts directed at Israeli territory. That operation, carried out by the 551st Brigade and Yahalom unit under the 91st Division, was conducted two days after the security arrangement was agreed and with prior notification to the United States, a joint statement from Netanyahu and Katz at the time confirmed. Reuters figures show the June tunnel was more than 25 metres deep and built with Iranian-supplied technology and expertise.
The broader campaign against Hezbollah’s underground network forms part of Israel’s efforts to neutralise cross-border threats that escalated after the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel triggered simultaneous fronts, with the Lebanese group firing thousands of rockets into northern Israel over the following years. Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that such infrastructure posed direct risks to civilian communities along the border, prompting sustained operations even after the US-mediated deal. The military’s latest statement emphasised that forces would continue to destroy remaining terrorist infrastructure to safeguard Israeli security.
