Lebanese media: IDF building defensive tunnels to fend off Hezbollah infiltration
Hezbollah-affiliated television station Al-Manar is expected to air a special report on Monday night, purporting to show how unprepared Israel is for a possible Hezbollah military infiltration.
By YASSER OKBI/ MAARIV HASHAVUA, JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: APRIL 3, 2017 18:11Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba(photo credit: SCREENSHOT FROM TWITTER)
Hezbollah-affiliated television station Al-Manar is expected to air a special report on Monday night, claiming to show how unprepared Israel is against the threat of militants infiltrating Israeli territory.Lebanese television station Al-Manar is slated to claim in the broadcast that the IDF is discreetly building defensive tunnels alongside the security fence it has been erecting on the northern border.According to the television station that is known to be affiliated with Shi'ite terror organization Hezbollah, the IDF has been forging ahead with the construction of the tunnels in order to prevent a possible infiltration of Hezbollah militants into Israeli territory.The report includes footage purporting to show IDF units constructing the fence along the border with Lebanon, with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nassrallah heard in the background reiterating his threat that Hezbollah militants will invade the Galilee."Be prepared for a day when if a there's a war on Lebanon, the resistance's leadership may request that you take over the Galilee," Nassrallah can be heard in the report in a message aimed at Hezbollah militants.Al-Manar has based its report on "Fence of Illusion," a film which has yet to be released and has reportedly been crafted by Lebanese filmmakers considered to be linked to Hezbollah. The film seeks to depict Israel as growing ever weaker in its reactions to threats emanating from the North, and as entirely unprepared for a future altercation with Hezbollah.Muhammed Shaito, one of the directors of the film, said that the footage included in the film paints a picture of a weak IDF fumbling to protect Israel mostly through the erection of a fence that cannot truly withstand a Hezbollah attack should it be faced with one. "This shows that the Israeli army, for the first time in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, is carrying out defensive actions out of fear that militants from south Lebanon to the north of occupied Palestine," the filmmaker said.According to Shaito, "Fence of Illusion" will illustrate to the world what he calls "the extent of the fear and confusion of the settlers on the border, out of fear of infiltration of Hezbollah fighters."Hezbollah official says Israel is closer than ever to its demise (credit: MEMRI)This is not the first time that Hezbollah or other media outlets connected to the terror organization have taken to the use of psychological warfare in an attempt to intimidate Israel from a future conflict. However, the IDF remains steadfast in its ongoing activities to defend Israel from numerous threats stemming from the troubled northern border, that has been relatively peaceful in the decade that has lapsed since the Second Lebanon War.The IDF declined to comment on reports regarding such defensive tunnels in the past.