IDF demolishes Hezbollah arsenal

The Israel Defense Forces continues to destroy Hezbollah terrorist assets in Southern Lebanon, including what the army said on Sunday was a combat compound containing eight weapon storage facilities.

Engineering troops from the 188th “Barak” Armored Brigade, operating as part of the 91st “Galilee” Division, discovered a compound housing weapon-storage facilities located both above and below ground, linked by an underground network. Within the compound, soldiers uncovered communication and electrical equipment, anti-tank missiles, explosives and computers.

The soldiers dismantled the compound and seized the weapons. They also discovered a firing position targeting communities in northern Israel, which housed additional weapon storage facilities.

On Dec. 18, engineering troops from the 188th Brigade located and destroyed an underground command and control facility belonging to Hezbollah.

The soldiers located a tunnel dozens of meters long that led to the command center, which according to the military was used by the Iranian proxy to plan attacks and direct rocket fire at communities in the Galilee over the past year.

Weapons, surveillance systems and additional military equipment were confiscated during the operation. Nearby, several weapons storage facilities were located, including one embedded inside a mosque, where hundreds of explosives, rifles, grenades and additional military equipment were being stored.

The IDF emphasized that 188th Brigade troops “continue to act to remove threats in Southern Lebanon in accordance with the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and the conditions of the ceasefire.”

On Dec. 17, an Israeli aircraft carried out a strike on a Hezbollah terrorist in Southern Lebanon after the army detected a man loading weapons into a car.

The aircraft attacked the vehicle “to remove the threat,” the IDF said in a statement, stressing that the terrorist group’s presence in the area “violated the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal reached with Beirut on Nov. 26, Israeli forces are to withdraw gradually from the country over a 60-day period.

Hezbollah must retreat north of the Litani River, about 20 miles north of the border, while the Lebanese Armed Forces deploy along the 75-mile frontier, along with monitors from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

On Dec. 16, the IDF announced that after three months in Lebanon, its 98th “Fire” Paratroopers Division was redeploying to the Gaza Strip. The division dismantled more than 300 Hezbollah sites in Lebanon, the army added.

Israeli ground forces entered Southern Lebanon on Oct. 1, after a year of incessant Hezbollah rocket, suicide drone and missile attacks.