"It was the mission of their lives," Col. Ziv, an engineering officer with the Northern Command, said on his way to the tunnel shafts. When we reached a tunnel located just a few yards from the last row of the Metula fields, you could see how each individual operation had been established in its own military way.
"There was deep mud here. The heavy tools sank," the senior official said. Today, the area near the tunnel's shaft has been paved and prepared to receive international correspondents and diplomatic tourists. The entrance to the tunnel has been covered with an iron door and fitted with an IDF lock the likes of which you would find on any military facility.
The tunnels are booby-trapped. The dilemma we now face is how to eradicate them permanently. According to Ziv, no decision has yet been reached as to go about this task. "The possibilities are: booby-trapping the tunnels, sealing them off or blowing them up."
Beyond the high wall on the border, a Lebanese road has been paved. Civilian Lebanese traffic on this road is very busy. All of these terrorist villages, from Khiam to Kafr Kila, have a topological advantage over our forces and civilian settlements like Metula, Kiryat Shmona and the communities in the Hula Valley.
Israel is now using this military operation as leverage for a diplomatic assault, which on Thursday, was taken to the U.N. The operation provides new context for Israel-Russia relations, and mainly allows for the continued location of tunnels on Israel's northern border as long as that proves necessary. While battle procedure has been in place for two years, the truth is that everything rested on the unexpected success of that first day.
"I wanted to gain the night and use the fog to our benefit," Ziv said.
There was a need to maintain secrecy while at the same time reach the approximated drilling spot, which is located only a few dozen yards from the last row of houses in Kafr Kila.
"It wasn't simple getting all the engineering equipment there. We have some amazing people here: the excellent company commanders, the [elite combat engineering unit] Yahalom. People worked magic," he said. "Missions that were allotted 12 hours lasted six. The major general scolded me for getting ahead of schedule."
Because the tunnel was discovered relatively quickly and the "victorious image" – if one can call it that – was achieved of Hezbollah fleeing, an incident was avoided. If the work of the engineering and drilling tools near the wall had carried on for two, three, even four days, Hezbollah may have tried to challenge the IDF's activity. The attempt this week by Lebanese soldiers to interfere with the work of Israeli soldiers was child's play, something akin to sending the mothers and children first.
The fast discovery of the attack tunnel was the proof that provided the IDF with the time necessary to complete the mission. The IDF seriously contemplated contending with the tunnels on the other side of the border fence, and that was where a senior official needed to give the word: Can the work be completed on our side only? And Ziv ultimately said that yes, it can. "There was no operational need to move to the other side [of the border]. It wasn't a concession on our part," he said.
The wrong impression has been created, especially following a report by CNN that retired NBA player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would be able to not only fit but run through the terror tunnel and still have some 8 inches above his head to spare; of fighters and terror tourists just entering and exiting the tunnels. That is not the case. All of the engineering and operational activity in the tunnels, and certainly in the press, is being carried out through robots and devices inserted at every depth and distance and controlled by remote. The CNN reporter dropped their camera into the tunnel with the help of a cable, and that was how they were able to get the necessary material.
To be sure, the current focus of international interest looks like a great place to take a vacation, whether on the Lebanese side, where the high border wall juts out among olive groves, or inside Israel, where it emerges alongside apple orchards recently harvested in Metula.
