Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that the military has almost completely located and destroyed Hezbollah-dug border tunnels stretching from Lebanon into Israel.
He made his remarks during a tour to the northern frontier with his security cabinet.
“The Israeli army briefed us on its actions in neutralizing the tunnels," Netanyahu said. "This operation is nearly done."
"There has been exceptional work here to deny Hezbollah the tunnels weapon," he said in remarks relayed by his office, according to AFP.
"It has invested greatly in this and we have destroyed it."
On Friday the army said it had blown up one cross-border tunnel dug by Hezbollah from Lebanon, the first of four it has uncovered -- and pledged to destroy -- in recent weeks.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said that forces sealed another "terror tunnel" with cement.
A spokeswoman for the army would not provide AFP with details on the status of the other two tunnels known to the Israeli forces.
In launching an operation to cut off the tunnels on December 4, Israel's military said it located four underground passageways infiltrating Israeli territory.
Israel alleges 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, while noting they were not yet operational.
A month-long war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Last week, the UN confirmed the existence of the four tunnels and said at least two of them crossed into Israel but that none of them appeared to have exit points on the Israeli side.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, has called the two tunnels "a serious violation of Resolution 1701", which ended the 2006 war.
