Ali al-Taher under fire: What prompted Israel’s latest move?

Report by Amal Shehadeh, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian 

What prompted Israel to move against Ali al-Taher, just hours after Reuters reported that Iran had threatened to escalate the situation if the area was attacked? So far, reports remain contradictory.

Some reports say that officers and members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were inside the tunnels there, as Reuters also reported, while others have denied this. Israel itself later denied the claim, after initially being the first to report it.

What is clear is that Tel Aviv used the Iranian threat as a pretext for the attack, while talk of a major victory comes at a crucial time for Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of the legislative elections.

So far, there has been no Iranian response to what happened. But how did the operation unfold?

Field reports indicate that special forces carried out ambushes targeting Hezbollah members in the Ali al-Taher hills.

They targeted tunnel entrances with grenades and drones, enabling them to take control of two passages leading to the main tunnel, where Hezbollah fighters were sheltering.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz later echoed this account.

As Netanyahu and Katz announced that the Ali al-Taher hill had been brought under control, the last Hezbollah position defending the Nabatieh area, the army continued to hold positions it says are helping it complete the destruction of Hezbollah’s infrastructure and eliminate its members, preventing the group from re-establishing its presence in the area.