IDF launches operation 'Northern Shield' to destroy Hezbollah tunnels infiltrating into Israel

The video included a clip from Hezbollah boasting that “’Conquering the Galilee” would involve 5,000 fighters and would see the group — whose military wing is proscribed by the UK as a terrorist organisation — “launch hundreds of rockets into Israel at a time”.

The IDF said this was exactly what UN Resolution 1701, which was adopted in the wake of the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, is supposed to prevent.

The Lebanese army was placed on high alert in response to the launch of the operation.

But Israeli residents in the north of the country have not been given any specific safety instructions, and no reservists have been called up.

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, head of the IDF’s International Media Branch, said that the operation would continue “until all threats against our civilians are mitigated.”