For more than two decades, Hezbollah has been plotting to capture the border town of Metula as a launch point to push into the Upper Galilee and northern Israel. However, since the outbreak of hostilities a year ago, and particularly in recent weeks, the Israel Defense Forces have been actively dismantling Hezbollah's attack infrastructure in the nearby village of Kila, located in southern Lebanon.
IDF taking out infrastructure in Kila village
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Under the leadership of the 769th Regional Brigade, part of the 91st Division, Israeli forces have discovered and destroyed dozens of underground facilities, weapon depots, observation posts and hundreds of terrorist infrastructures scattered throughout and within Kila village. This village is considered one of Hezbollah's main terror strongholds, from which over 1,000 armed Radwan fighters were poised to invade Israel at a moment's notice.
A tour of the ravaged village and neighboring Lebanese areas quickly reveals the scale of the destruction and the high level of Hezbollah's readiness to execute their "Conquer the Galilee" plan, a strategy they announced in 2011 and have been preparing for ever since. "The village of Kila represents all the evil and what Hezbollah intended to do," explained Colonel Avraham Marciano, commander of the 769th Brigade.
He added that, from this Shiite village adjacent to Metula, "there was a plan for several battalions to storm into Israeli territory." The IDF's heavy machinery is carrying out extensive demolition in the area, continuing to destroy homes and terrorist infrastructures located so close to the border wall. Just yards away from Metula's orchards and across from the Har Tzofiya neighborhood, near a local gas station owned by Hezbollah, Marciano described an exposed underground terror tunnel that did not breach Israeli soil.
"Fifty yards from here, within the rubble, we uncovered an underground shaft they planned to use," he detailed. "It was several hundred yards long, and from its entrance the terrorists planned to go underground on the main street of the village, collect their equipment, prepare for an attack and emerge from here."
Forces are now destroying this tunnel, along with other above and below-ground terrorist infrastructures. David, one of the soldiers protecting us, participated in uncovering the tunnel. "We found it with the excavation equipment," he recounted. "There's no doubt we halted its further digging. In almost every house here, we uncovered terrorist infrastructures. Whether it's shafts, tunnels, or just weapons, in every house, you can find weapons, ammunition, vests, combat gear, or medical supplies."
In nearby areas, Hezbollah set up observation posts from which they monitored movement in Israel for years. Since the conflict began, the Lebanese Shiite terror organization has used these posts to direct fire and launch direct attacks on Israeli communities, including Kfar Yuval. "From this point, they fired at the Ayalon family home while Mira and her son Barak were having lunch in their kitchen," Colonel Marciano described. "Today, we are settling scores and destroying Hezbollah's infrastructures."
He explained that the military activity in the area, which oversees the northern communities, aims to "destroy the infrastructures, seize the weapons – and prevent Hezbollah's surprise invasion capability from Kila village." According to the colonel: "We're doing similar things in other villages. This is how the operation looks. Our response, besides eliminating the terrorists, their commanders, and the commanders of their commanders, is to ensure that the infrastructure does not exist."
However, he acknowledged this activity does not address the remote and steep-trajectory anti-tank fire. For example, during the tour of villages near Metula, they repeatedly took shelter due to mortar fire from the nearby village of Al-Khiam, where the IDF is not operating.
Marciano emphasized that the forces on the ground are vigorously working to destroy Hezbollah infrastructures. "We live every day as if it's the last day of the maneuver," he said. "We have a sense of activity and urgency. The machinery doesn't stop, the soldiers don't stop. The soldiers even push us, wanting to move forward and do the work. We don't want to stop."
He promised that "we are doing everything we can – and everything that needs to be done – to ensure that the residents of the north can live here safely. We've waited for this for a year. Today we stand here, realizing what we've waited for, not because we are war-hungry; quite the opposite, we want peace. And for that, we need to come from a position of strength and bring this strength and victory to the people of Israel, who have waited for it for so long."
"Hezbollah needs to flee, feel hunted, lose all its infrastructures, all the operatives we can take out now, and if we need to go deeper – we will."
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: