Residents of the North have said that they will not return to their homes “in such a dangerous situation,” following an announcement by the IDF that it uncovered an 800-meter underground Hezbollah compound in southern Lebanon.
The compound, which the military said served as a command and control center for Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, had weapons, motorcycles, living quarters, and means for long-term stays.
The IDF believes Hezbollah intended to use these supplies during a planned invasion of Israel.
“They were planning, with these motorcycles here, to enter Kiryat Shmona, Yiftah, and towns and positions inside Israel and conduct a massacre. They were here only a couple of days ago,” said IDF Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari.
Hezbollah is believed to have evacuated a few days prior, leaving the tunnels mostly abandoned.
“While marking one year to the horrible disaster that happened in the South, we were exposed [to] an 800-meter tunnel with weapons and areas for resting and temporary stays,” said Kiryat Shmona resident Rafael Slav, one of the organizers of the Fighting for the North Forum.
Not surprised by the situation
“While we are always thinking of the 101 hostages still in the Gaza Strip, it is impossible not to imagine that our fate was supposed to be the same, looking at the infrastructure set up by Hezbollah,” he added.
“The State of Israel must not lead the North to a policy of unending rounds [of fighting],” he said, touching on Israel’s previous management of security in the South, which was characterized by continual exchanges of rocket fire and IDF strikes.
“It is time to bring total security back to the northern border area. We must not stop.
“For years, we have been sounding the alarm about digging noises,” said Maayan Benziri, a resident of Shlomi who is involved in the Forum.
“We called the police and the army, and they told us we were hallucinating; they turned us into crazy people. It’s time to listen to residents of the North. Get back our trust in you and completely destroy the threats over the border.”
Danna Eran-Shamir, an evacuee from Malkiya, said that hearing about the discovery of the Hezbollah base was very frightening, but unfortunately unsurprising.
Residents have known about security incidents in the area for years, she explained, adding that “it’s not surprising that this is the situation.”
“Of course we feel very unsafe right now,” she said, adding that she isn’t sure if she will feel safe enough to return to her home in the future.
Over the years, the state should have “made sure the situation did not reach this point – where Hezbollah is on the [border] and even over the [border],” she said, adding that she now thinks the government should resign.
While she doesn’t expect that to happen, that is the “appropriate action, because they are simply not functioning in any way, in any area, and certainly not in the diplomatic area.”
Eran-Shamir said that what she would want to see now are peace agreements. “I don’t think that the war will solve anything.
“I think we need to end this war and make peace because otherwise, there will certainly not be security.”
Everything is connected to the need to bring the hostages back, Eran-Shamir added. “As long as this government is continuing to stick to the approach of only fighting, it means that there is no way the hostages will come back and no way residents of the north will go back to their houses like this,” she added.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report