IDF announcement of major operation on Israel-Lebanon border to destroy Hezbollah tunnels into Israel signals a new and dangerous phase in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006. Since then, the border has been quiet in terms of extensive exchanges of fire. Hezbollah has been building up a very large arsenal of missiles and since 2011 has deployed thousands of fighters in Syria to support the Assad regime.
In violation of Security Council resolutions, Hezbollah has hidden missiles in Lebanese villages and Hezbollah personnel have been patrolling the Israel-Lebanon border.
Today the IDF have said there is an extensive network of tunnels that Hezbollah has built to attack Israel and to store missiles. Israeli military planners have faced the dilemma for some time as to whether to take action against Hezbollah and risk an escalation.
Today's operation is to destroy those tunnels and end Hezbollah's option to send fighters into Israel underground causing mayhem in local Israeli communities. Hezbollah's dilemma is whether to attack IDF forces on the border involved in the operation and risk igniting a war.
But even if the tunnels are destroyed, there is still the issue of 100,000 Hezbollah missiles in Lebanon and intelligence that Iran is helping to build missiles with guidance systems in Lebanon. A future dilemma will be when the IDF decides to launch strikes to destroy them.
