Hezbollah reveals underground military base as Israel braces for retaliation

Iran-backed Lebanese group releases video showing tunnel network stocked with weapons

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The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah released a video on Friday purporting to show an underground military base for the first time, as it repeated its intention to retaliate against Israel for assassinating one of its senior commanders.

The four-minute video shows fighters riding motorbikes through what appears to be a vast network of tunnels stocked with missiles, accompanied by excerpts of speeches by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The site is called Emad 4.

A Hezbollah source said it was this was the first time the group had released videos of their underground tunnels.

It is widely believed that Hezbollah has built an extensive network of tunnels under Lebanon, much larger than those of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, but with very little evidence so far to support this.

“The facility is the size of a city, with exact boundaries and connection unknown,” a Hezbollah source said, adding that the facility is numbered “4“, meaning that it is “only one of a series of facilities”, which the group “might” later reveal.

Hezbollah released the video on its Telegram channel as Israel braces for retaliation from Iran and its proxy forces in the region. An Israeli drone strike killed Fouad Shukr, one of Hezbollah's most senior commanders, in Beirut on July 30. Hours later, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran in an attack blamed on Israel.

“The resistance now possesses precision and non-precision missiles, along with weapons capabilities, so that if Israel imposes a war on Lebanon, Israel will face a destiny and reality it didn’t expect any day,” Mr Nasrallah is heard saying as dramatic music plays in the background.

Hezbollah and Iran have vowed to respond, sparking fears of a wider regional war. A western diplomatic source said there was “a lot of pressure” on Iran and Hezbollah to strike back against Israel.

“If they don’t retaliate, it essentially means that Israelis can do whatever they want,” the source said.

“The video is part of psychological warfare and a direct threat message to the Israelis that if things escalate, we are ready,” Kassem Kassir, an analyst with insights into Hezbollah, told The National.

There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity to ease tension in the region, including the resumption of Gaza ceasefire negotiations in Doha on Thursday. Mediators and a delegation from Israel were to continue the talks on Friday.

But Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem said on Thursday that any retaliation would be “separate from the aggression on Gaza and the ceasefire agreement”.

“The response will happen,” he said. But “how and when” was still to be decided by the group's leaders and commanders, Mr Qassem added.

He dismissed the visit to Lebanon by US envoy Amos Hochstein on Wednesday, describing the arrival of the American official as “for show”.

“The Americans want to say they are doing something, but there is a vacuum,” Mr Qassem told Hezbollah's Al Manar television channel.