“Israelis” were oblivious to sophisticated tunnel network near border – “deterrent capability harmed"

Source: World Tribune, 30-5-2007
NICOSIA - Hizbullah`s massive tunnel network in Lebanon contains electricity, running water and food and could maintain occupation-resistance fighters for months.
A prominent Lebanese military analyst was allowed to tour the network near the "Israeli" border which served as a major factor in Hizbullah`s 34-day war with "Israel" in mid-2006.
Analyst Nicholas Blanford, who reports for Lebanese and major Western media, was provided with the coordinates of a Hizbullah tunnel near Rshaf, Lebanon. The tunnel was one of dozens dug out in the rocky hills that overlook the "Israeli" border.
Hizbullah was said to have used the tunnels to conceal rockets and fighters during the 2006 war. The bunkers and tunnels were secretly constructed in wake of the "Israeli" withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Middle East Newsline reported. Entry to the Hizbullah tunnel near Rshaf was through a bunker that contained a seven-meter shaft. The shaft widened into a passage reinforced with steel plates and girders, painted black to prevent reflection from the sun. After 10 meters, the passage led to a room with electricity and water. The complex, with steel blast-proof doors every 10 meters, contained a toilet, kitchen, sewage system and ventilation shafts some 30 to 50 meters underground, "deep enough to withstand almost anything in `Israel`s` arsenal," Blanford said. "As far as I know, this is the largest and most elaborate bunker discovered so far," Blanford wrote in the Christian Science Monitor. During the 2006 war, "Israeli" aircraft and ground troops failed to find Hizbullah bunkers or tunnels. A Hizbullah tunnel that penetrated "Israel" was found in 2007. "The greatest failure as a result of the war is that `Israel`s` deterrent capability has been severely harmed," "Israeli" opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu said. Timor Goksel, a former senior adviser to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, said Hizbullah appears to have abandoned its tunnel network. Goksel said "Israel's" failure to find the network marked a "monumental failure" by military intelligence. "The `Israelis` only found these bunkers by stepping on them," Goksel said.