DAR AL HARB / ISLAM - LEBANON: INSIDE HIZ B'ALLAH' HIDDEN BUNKERS

Inside Hizballah's Hidden Bunkers
By NICHOLAS BLANFORD/ALMA SHAAB, LEBANON

With the bunker's heavy metal lid dragged to one side, dank musty air rose up from the entrance, the forbidding gloom of the narrow steel-lined shaft below unbroken by the bright sunlight. It had taken seven months of searching to finally discover one of the underground bunkers that had enabled Hizballah to fire thousands of rockets into northern Israel last summer even under the pounding of Israeli air and ground operations.

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The effort that went into building the fortifications in this valley alone had been extraordinary, and these were just three of dozens, possibly hundreds, scattered throughout southern Lebanon. The steel plates and girders, as well as the digging tools, sandbags and other equipment had to be carried by hand up the steep slope from the valley floor and welded into place in the cramped claustrophobic tunnels. And Hizballah's engineers had managed to work undetected, despite near daily reconnaissance flights by Israeli jets and drones.

Both Hizballah and the Israeli military are still absorbing the lessons learned during last summer's conflict. But with continued speculation here over a possible "round two" between the militant Shi'ite group and Israel, it remains to be seen what fresh tricks Hizballah may still have up its sleeve.



Pertinent Links:

1) Inside Hizballah's Hidden Bunkers