The Israeli newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” revealed intriguing details about the Israeli army’s battle with Lebanese Hezbollah, specifically regarding an underground strategic base prepared for about 200 members of Hezbollah’s Radwan unit to storm the settlement of “Kiryat Shmona.”
The newspaper published an extensive report translated by “Arabi21,” titled “The First Tunnel Battle – and the Explosion that Shook the North,” which stated: “A mysterious iron door in the pastoral village led to a battle that lasted 36 hours underground and ended with the largest engineering explosion in the history of the Israeli army.”
According to the newspaper, a senior Israeli army official provided the full “untold” story and special documentation of the battle that took place underground. The report highlighted that on Saturday, October 26, at 7 a.m., a somewhat alarming message appeared on the mobile phones of hundreds of thousands of Israelis.
The message read: “Immediately go to an open area,” marking the first time the Terua system alerted to such a seismic event, which has been fully operational since February 2023.
120 Sensory Devices
The report explained that “the system relies on about 120 sensory devices and provides warnings lasting from a few seconds to half a minute, depending on the location and intensity of the noise, and does not activate with minor tremors that occur from time to time,” adding that “many Israelis were convinced that a major earthquake was occurring at that moment, and the tremor was well felt by residents of Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.”
“Yedioth Ahronoth” continued: “The Israeli army realized that there was significant panic on the ground, and shortly afterward, a reassuring message was sent out, stating that the explosions were due to Israeli military activity in southern Lebanon and that there was no fear of a security incident occurring.”
The newspaper later added more details: “The source of the earthquake was the destruction of a major Hezbollah strategic facility by Israeli army forces.”
The newspaper confirmed that the Israeli army claims the explosion was the most powerful in its 76-year history, using 400 tons of explosives, eight times the size of the largest previous explosion by the Israeli army in Gaza.
Hezbollah’s Largest Underground Base
The report noted that “the military base is considered Hezbollah’s largest underground facility, from which the Radwan unit was supposed to emerge to storm the settlement of Kiryat Shmona, a terrifying scenario that would have been much greater than what the residents of the Western Negev experienced on October 7.”
It mentioned that “the operation to locate and destroy the facility included a horrifying battle that lasted more than a day and occurred in narrow tunnels, which will be taught in secret war schools,” explaining that “the tunnels contained elements from the Radwan unit, overhead doors, and explosive materials, one of which could have at least caused the tunnel to collapse on the Israeli forces fighting inside.”
The article concluded: “There were also 400 tons of explosives that were quickly brought in, causing a massive explosion,” posing the question: “How did Hezbollah manage to build this underground monster, only a few kilometers away from the settlements of Kiryat Shmona?”
