{"id":568172,"date":"2026-07-31T06:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T06:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/568172\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T06:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T06:23:16","slug":"idf-demolishes-hezbollah-tunnels-below-southern-lebanons-beaufort-ridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/568172\/","title":{"rendered":"IDF demolishes Hezbollah tunnels below southern Lebanon’s Beaufort Ridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Israeli military blew up a Hezbollah tunnel system<\/a> beneath the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced late Thursday night in a joint statement.<\/p>\n

They said the Israel Defense Forces used 700 tons of explosives to demolish the subterranean facility.<\/p>\n

The demolition was planned for an earlier date but had been postponed due to the framework deal reached in June. Netanyahu and Katz said the destruction of the tunnel system was in response to Hezbollah\u2019s \u201cblatant\u201d violation of the ceasefire agreement on Wednesday, when it targeted an unmanned bulldozer<\/a> with an explosive drone.<\/p>\n

The tunnel, which journalists toured earlier this month, served as a \u201ccentral part of the Hezbollah terror organization\u2019s invasion plan against the Galilee communities,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe State of Israel will not accept any violation of the ceasefire agreement. Any attempt by Hezbollah to harm IDF troops or Israeli civilians will be met with a severe and powerful response that will exact a heavy price from the terrorist organization,\u201d Netanyahu and Katz said, adding that the IDF \u201cwill remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon and will continue to destroy all terror infrastructure to prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to restore its capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

The IDF in its own statement said it demolished \u201cseveral key underground routes in the Beaufort Ridge area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past several weeks, IDF troops completed securing the Beaufort Ridge area, while taking control of and clearing the underground infrastructure and preparing it for destruction,\u201d the military said.<\/p>\n

The military had already demolished a tunnel on July 13 that was part of the Beaufort Ridge area underground system. With the latest demolition, most of the tunnel network in the area has been destroyed.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tInside a Hezbollah tunnel near the Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, July 7, 2026. (Emanuel Fabian\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n

The IDF is also still monitoring a massive Hezbollah tunnel system beneath the Ali Taher ridge, near Nabatieh, where dozens of operatives are still believed to be holed up. However, because of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF has been prevented from capturing the underground passages beneath the ridge, though it has continued to operate in other parts of south Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA view of the Ali Taher ridge from Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, July 7, 2026. (Emanuel Fabian\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n

The June deal called for the Lebanese military to deploy in areas in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah had previously held a military presence and influence, paving the way for Israel to withdraw from the buffer zone it holds in the south. Technical teams from each side will meet from August 4 to 6 to focus on advancing the implementation of the framework agreement meant to lead to an eventual peace deal between Israel and Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Channel 12 news reported Wednesday that Israel told mediators that it would not agree to additional withdrawals from territory in southern Lebanon during the talks next week, saying it would halt further pullouts south of the so-called \u201cyellow line\u201d that marks the buffer zone until Hezbollah is disarmed. The Iran-backed terror group has rejected disarmament and opposes the Israel-Lebanon talks.<\/p>\n

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tWe can’t do this work alone.\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n

There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n

As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou’re a dedicated reader\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.<\/p>\n

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven\u2019t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.<\/p>\n

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Israeli military blew up a Hezbollah tunnel system beneath the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[190560,153642,49,86,143573,191024,85,46,2723,43],"class_list":["post-568172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-2026-israel-hezbollah-conflict","tag-beaufort","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-hezbollah","tag-hezbollah-tunnels","tag-idf-israel-defense-forces","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-katz","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}