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Source: https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkbl2h00kzl#autoplay
Israeli Commandos Hunted Hizbullah Underground for 3 Months before Blowing Up Ali Taher Ridge
(Ynet News) Elisha Ben Kimon - Israeli commandos and combat engineers conducted three months of exhausting ambushes, close-range fighting and underground warfare on southern Lebanon's Ali Taher Ridge to clear it before blowing up the major Hizbullah strategic underground complex. Lt.-Col. D., commander of a combat engineering company, described working in thick vegetation, boulders, and at a distance from other Israeli forces, while dozens of Hizbullah forces operated in the area and repeatedly targeted Israeli troops with drones and indirect fire. As Israeli forces advanced, they began discovering the scale of Hizbullah's preparations on the ridge. Lt.-Col. R., commander of the Maglan commando unit, said, "We put together the intelligence picture on the ground and realized there was a fortified site that had been prepared for a very long time....Every soldier would prepare for an ambush lasting several days, move covertly, reach the position, remain there hidden with special equipment and wait patiently." During the operation, dozens of Hizbullah forces were killed either by drones or in close-range fighting. IDF troops used a series of classified measures aimed at forcing Hizbullah out of the tunnels, D. said. Israeli forces cut off supplies being delivered by drones and conducted searches on foot for shafts, using clues such as metal beneath rocks, openings in the ground, and weapons positioned near suspected exits. One underground route was penetrated after a month and a second after six weeks. D. added, "The morale in the unit is among the most exceptional I have ever encountered. The soldiers of the company did not go home for three months. They didn't wash their faces and didn't eat like normal people. They slept outside in the brush, in the cold and the heat, for hours during long ambushes. They did what was needed to complete the mission because they understood its importance. They did not complain."