Date: Dec 21, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Israel begins destroying 'Hezbollah tunnels' Thursday Agence France Presse OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The Israeli army Thursday night began destroying cross-border tunnels that Israel alleges were dug by Hezbollah, a spokesman said, more than two weeks after announcing their discovery on the frontier with Lebanon. "The neutralization and destruction phase of Hezbollah's attack tunnels dug from Lebanon into Israel has begun," the military said on its Twitter account. "Our effort to expose additional tunnels continues according to plan," it added. The army advised Israeli authorities and the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon to notify its Lebanese counterpart to take measures to protect civilians across the border. "We warn anyone not to approach the opening of the tunnels and not to stand near any of them on the Lebanese side," the spokesman said. Since launching an operation to cut off the tunnels on Dec. 4, the army claims that it has located four underground passageways infiltrating Israeli territory. It issued a warning to Hezbollah, with which Israel fought a devastating war in 2006. "We have at our disposal infantry units, armored units, stand-by aviation, naval units, all synchronized with clear orders and ready for a wide range of scenarios," spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said. The deployment was a "message to Hezbollah signifying that we will not tolerate any approach or attempt to interfere in our efforts to destroy these cross-border attack tunnels," he said. Israel alleges that Hezbollah had planned to use the tunnels to kidnap or kill its civilians or soldiers, and to seize a slice of Israeli territory in the event of any hostilities. The monthlong war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah killed over 1,200 Lebanese people, mostly civilians, and over 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. Conricus said the operation to locate and destroy the tunnels was "purely defensive." Their destruction would take several hours and would involve different techniques, he said, without giving further details.