The Israeli military has blown up Hezbollah’s tunnel system beneath the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced late Thursday night in a joint statement.

They said the Israel Defense Forces used 700 tons of explosives to demolish the subterranean facility.

The demolition was planned for an earlier date but was postponed because of the framework deal reached in June. Netanyahu and Katz said the destruction of the tunnel system was in response to Hezbollah’s “blatant” violation of the ceasefire agreement on Wednesday, when it targeted an unmanned bulldozer with an explosive drone.

The tunnel, which journalists toured earlier this month, served as a “central part of the Hezbollah terror organization’s invasion plan against the Galilee communities,” the statement said.

“The 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,”. Netanyahu and Katz said, adding that the IDF “will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon and will continue to destroy all terror infrastructure in order to prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to restore its capabilities.”

The IDF in its own statement said it demolished “several........

© The Times of Israel