Israel blasts massive Hezbollah tunnels, triggering 4.1-magnitude tremor in southern Lebanon
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Israel blasts massive Hezbollah tunnels, triggering 4.1-magnitude tremor in southern Lebanon")
Israel's demolition of Hezbollah tunnels triggers 4.1-magnitude earthquake Photograph: (Credit: X/IDF)
Israeli forces demolished a massive Hezbollah underground tunnel network in southern Lebanon, triggering a powerful explosion that registered as a 4.1-magnitude ‘artificial earthquake’.
A massive Israeli military operation targeting subterranean Hezbollah infrastructure triggered a 4.1-magnitude artificial earthquake across southern Lebanon. The controlled detonation, carried out beneath the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge, sent shockwaves that were registered by international seismic monitors and felt tens of kilometres away.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Lebanese Seismological Centre, the shockwave was recorded at a magnitude of 4.1 on the Richter scale near Nabatieh. Seismologists clarified that the reading was an artificial tremor caused strictly by the force of the surface detonation utilising an estimated 1,100 tonnes of explosives rather than a natural tectonic fault movement. However, local authorities expressed concern over the proximity of the blast to the major Roum fault line.
Video footage released by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz showed a massive fireball illuminating the night sky over the region. Witnesses and reporters in towns as far as Sidon, located 40 kilometres to the north, reported hearing successive detonations and feeling violent ground shaking.
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In a joint statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Katz confirmed the completion of the operation, stating that military forces had successfully dismantled a critical underground network. Israeli officials claimed the multi-level complex had been constructed over the past two decades with Iranian funding and design. Katz said, “In accordance with the directive of the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister, the IDF has now destroyed the underground infrastructure of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in the Ali Taher ridge, thereby completing the consolidation of the security zone in southern Lebanon.”
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) reported that the Ali al-Taher subterranean facility served as a primary command centre for Hezbollah’s Badr unit. According to military intelligence, the network comprised at least eight distinct underground routes, weapons storage facilities, living quarters, and launching pads for explosive drones and rockets directed toward northern Israel.
The operation marks a significant escalation in the IDF’s efforts to establish a secure perimeter along its northern border. While Israel maintained that the target was vital to stopping cross-border attacks, the sheer scale of the blast ignited widespread panic among local civilian populations already displaced by ongoing regional hostilities.
The incident comes at a delicate diplomatic juncture, as international mediators prepare for upcoming Lebanese-Israeli negotiations brokered to establish security conditions in the south. Lebanese government sources condemned the massive scale of the demolition, citing the risk posed to regional infrastructure and neighbouring communities.
