JERUSALEM, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Sunday morning that it has found another cross-border tunnel allegedly dug by the Hezbollah militant organization.
The tunnel reaches a few tens of meters into Israel and stems 800 meters into Lebanon, the army said.
Lt. Cl. Jonathan Conricus, head of the International Media Branch at the IDF, said the goals, set approximately six weeks ago when the Israeli military announced the beginning of Operation "Northern Shield" to thwart such tunnels, have been reached.
"According to our intelligence, there are no longer any cross-border attack tunnels from Lebanon into Israel," he told reporters at a briefing, "There are however still facilities that Hezbollah has dug within Lebanese territory that have yet to cross into Israel and we are continuing to monitor them."
"We assess we have found the last tunnel," Conricus added. He would not confirm the total number of tunnels found, but a count of previous IDF announcements makes this one the sixth.
According to a statement issued by the IDF on Sunday morning, the IDF has now exposed all cross-border tunnels dug by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel and the tunnels will be neutralized in the coming days.
The statment added that this marks the completion of Operation "Northern Shield," which aims to expose and neutralize attack tunnels which infiltrate into Israeli territory. The IDF is simultaneously monitoring several locations where Hezbollah is digging underground structures which have yet to cross into Israel.
The Lebanese government is responsible for everything happening in its territory, noted the statement.
Hezbollah and Israel fought a war in 2006. Since then, there has been tension along the border with isolated violent incidents. Israel has reportedly conducted hundreds of airstrikes against arms shipments for Hezbollah in the past two years.
For over a year, Israel has been fortifying its border with Lebanon, using technological means and physical barriers to make attacks more difficult.
The intent of the tunnels, according to Israeli officials, was to launch a massive attack against Israeli population centers in the north of the country in order to begin an offensive.
The latest tunnel was found hours ago and was described by Conricus as the "longest and most detailed yet."
Tensions along the border have been running high since the Israeli military began its efforts to discover and dismantle the tunnels.
Both Israel and the UN say the tunnels violate the fragile cease-fire reached at the end of the 2006 war. Hezbollah has remained silent on the issue.
