The Israel Defense Forces has completed the process of neutralizing and destroying cross-border tunnels originating in Kafr Kila, Lebanon as part of a wide-scale operation launched on Dec. 4, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said, Thursday.
The IDF destroyed the tunnels by pumping unspecified materials into the tunnels from the Israeli side that resulted in liquid cement spilling out across the Lebanese village, Thursday.
"We have determined that tunnels dug by Hezbollah from Kafr Kila into the fields of Metula have been neutralized and destroyed," Manelis said.
The sealing of the tunnels began on Monday, with the pumping of water, cement and other materials into the tunnels to break through the obstructions put in place by Hezbollah in an attempted to keep the IDF from rendering them completely useless. After the obstructions were removed, the tunnels were filled with the material, which came out on the other side in Lebanon.
"We pumped more material than was necessary" Manelis emphasized, with the intent to see "the material flowing in the streets to show that these tunnels cross over to the other side [of the border].
"It is our understanding that these tunnels will not be able to be utilized and have been destroyed. We are working with a series of tools to handle the tunnels – in this case, the insertion of materials that serve to neutralize the tunnel."
On Thursday, the IDF released a picture of what the Lebanese described as a "block factory" in Kafr Kila, clearly showing the cement mixture emerging from the tunnel inside Lebanon. At the start of the operation, Hezbollah had denied the IDF's assertion that changes to the factory site had led the military to discover one of the tunnels that extended into Metula. Hezbollah had claimed a chicken coop was located at the site at the time.
According to Manelis, the fact that the factory was flooded with cement pumped in from the Israeli side is proof of the direct connection between the tunnel and the factory. He said it also proved beyond a doubt that the tunnels cross from the Lebanese side to the Israeli side and that Hezbollah utilized the factory for its terror tunnel project.
"There are a few additional points in Kafr Kila that the materials for sealing the tunnels have reached, both from this tunnel and from additional tunnels," Manelis said.
The IDF announced the launch of Operation Northern Shield to expose and neutralize cross-border terror tunnels dug by Hezbollah under the Israel-Lebanon security fence on Dec. 4. The military did not disclose how many tunnels snake into Israeli territory from Lebanon or how long the operation would last.
"We are neutralizing the tunnels that crossed into Israeli sovereign [territory]." That is the reason that entire length of the two earlier tunnels were blown up and that is why we are pumping the materials so that they are completely taken out of use."
According to a senior IDF official, "Hezbollah is still in shock. They are unable to calculate their path."
