Tehran has now placed five new conditions before renewing negotiations with the United States: Removing sanctions, releasing frozen funds, compensation for the damage caused by the war, recognition of an Iranian role in the Strait of Hormuz, and one more condition that brings us directly right here to Israel’s northern border, stopping the fighting on all fronts with a special focus on Lebanon and Hezbollah.
And this is the question that needs to open this report: “Is Iran really trying to stop a war or is it trying to save Hezbollah just before the IDF dismantles another layer of the system it built in southern Lebanon?”
“I’m Amotz Shoshani, this is Ground Report, and this morning I headed out early on my motorcycle to reach this place, Kiryat Shmona. It’s a road right north, but it begins much farther away from here, in the Strait of Hormuz, in the negotiation room between Washington and Tehran, at Trump’s summit in China, and in one question hanging over this entire Middle East. Are we heading towards an agreement or towards the moment when the fighting returns with much greater force? The United States is trying to pressure Iran through the sea.”
“The naval blockade around Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz is hurting oil exports. It’s leaving tankers stuck and it’s placing a heavy pressure on the Iranian economy. At the very same time, the Revolutionary Guards are trying to turn Hormuz into a bargaining chip. They’re threatening ships, they’re expanding the operational definition of the area, and they’re trying to signal to the world that they are still capable of disrupting the energy routes of the global economy.”
“But Iran is not stopping at sea. Inside this proposal, it’s also inserting Lebanon and that is not a coincidence. Hezbollah is not just another organization inside the Iranian system. It is Tehran’s most important strategic asset on Israel’s entire border. And if Iran succeeds in bringing Lebanon into the agreement, it’s not only stopping fire, it is trying to stop Israel exactly at the moment when the IDF is striking the infrastructure Hezbollah built over generations.”
“That is why we are heading north today. While the world is talking about uranium, sanctions and oil, beneath the ground in southern Lebanon lies the simple answer. Hezbollah was not preparing for peace. It dug, it built, it hid weapons, and it inserted the war into civilian spaces. In El Khiam in southern Lebanon, the IDF has already uncovered an underground infrastructure about 25 m deep inside a civilian clothing store. Above ground, shelves, clothes, the appearance of ordinary life. Below ground, rooms, weapons, and infrastructure used to manage Hezbollah activity. This is not a small detail. This is the model. Civilian life in Lebanon is the cover and Iran’s war against Israel is underneath the ground.”
“In Kiryat Shmona, you can see very quickly that the north has still not returned to normal life. There are open roads, there is movement, there’s the beautiful landscape of the Galilee, but beneath all of that, there’s a different feeling. The border is too close. The Lebanese villages are just beyond the hill. Every house on the other side will be a house, but it can also be an observation post. Every warehouse can be a warehouse, but it can also be a place where rockets, explosives, or the allowed 140 equipment are hidden.”
“And here we need to state clearly, Hezbollah did not build these tunnels to protect Lebanon. It built them to prepare the next war against the people of Israel. It didn’t place infrastructure inside villages to protect Lebanese civilians. It did it because it knows that on the day Israel strikes, the world will first see the destroyed house, and only later ask what was hidden inside or under it.”
“This campaign did not begin today. After the elimination of Nasrallah, after the Pedro operation, after the precise strikes on commanders, on warehouses, on communication systems, and the Radwan elite force, Hezbollah is no longer the same place it was before the war. It’s still dangerous. It’s still armed, but it is no longer the organization that thought it could threaten Israel without paying a heavy price. And that is exactly why Iran is afraid.”
“For the regime in Tehran, Hezbollah is the most important layer of deterrence against the people of Israel. If Hezbollah is hit too hard, Iran loses the ability to threaten Israel from the northern border. And if Israel continues to operate in southern Lebanon while talks with the United States are taking place, well, Tehran understands that its Lebanese card is in dire danger.”
“Just in recent days, the situation in Lebanon has moved up another notch. IDF forces are operating deeper inside southern Lebanon, including in areas close to the Litani River, and even beyond lines where they had not operated for a very long time. Infantry, engineering, and armored units are working together to reach launchers, to reach warehouses, tunnel shafts, observation posts, and Hezbollah infrastructure. Because in the end, when we talk about restoring security to the north, that’s not just a slogan. It means dismantling Hezbollah’s ability to approach the fence.”
“Now we enter the journey itself. The gathering point in Kiryat Shmona is not just a technical location, it’s a line of transition between Israel proper, which has lived for many long months under threat, and Lebanon, which Hezbollah has turned into Iran’s forward front. I’m standing here with a vest and helmet next to me waiting to enter the El-Khiam area with the IDF.”
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“As you could probably tell, we’re in an armored vehicle and we’re heading into or to the border right now. Just been briefed by the IDF. Can’t show the exact route we’re about to cross in. And it’s hard to explain this. The distances are nothing. It’s minutes of driving from within a Israeli city where life looks normal into well, Hezbollah terrorist nest. We and within minutes you transition from that to the infrastructure that has been built at an enormous cost to destroy the life in Israel.”
“I want to explain what this place actually is. We just got a debrief off camera from the IDF intelligence on exactly what happened in this place. Underground beneath us underneath this store was a compound that is a command and control compound and a storage compound for munitions used by Hezbollah. But in this war, the way this very place was discovered is by I don’t know if can you see them in the camera? The holes in that wall and that wall? Essentially, they were using these as a base for anti-tank units. They’d move between the sides of the building through those holes in the walls and fire missiles. In fact, six anti-tank missiles were fired from this very position and that’s how an IDF unit found this place. They came to eliminate the anti-tank unit and discovered first the holes in the wall and then the hole in the room that leads deep into that very substantial underground compound. And here was the case in a clothing store, in a shop where people are supposed to be buying these innocent objects, children’s clothing, women’s clothing. And instead of that, they’re sending anti-tank missiles. Instead of that, they’re trying to harm Israeli communities. They’re building these vast underground compounds exactly for that purpose. This image tells you everything you need to know about what’s happening in Lebanon.”
“We are descending into a Hezbollah terrorism tunnel. This is much narrower than this lens can actually explain and accommodate. So, we’ve just come down a ways into the Hezbollah terror tunnel. And every time we come to these places, I’m taken aback by one repeated thing. How much money do these people spend in creating destruction and terrorism infrastructure? And I need to be clear here. It’s not against the army of Israel. It’s not against the political movement. It’s against the civilian population of Israel just that way down the border from here. This is why Hezbollah has been here. This is why they built this infrastructure. And we are here as journalists today to witness exactly that.”
“One last thought as we’re standing here. I keep getting these comments on social media talking about, you know, Israel’s invading Lebanon. Israel’s invading Lebanon. Let me tell you something. You know who the invading force in Lebanon is? It’s Hezbollah. They are not a grassroots movement of the Lebanese people. They are a tiny movement that has been funded by foreign money, Iranian money, only to be a tool against the people of Israel and the Judeo-Christian values in this part of the world. And as we’re about to descend deeper in this tunnel, I want you to remember that. This should have been a school, a kindergarten, a welfare center, something better for the people of Lebanon, not terrorism against the people of Israel. That’s what you need to remember when you see everything that is going on here.”
“We just arrived at the ground floor. We came down the corridor. I want you to notice the details around me cuz this is where things really matter. These are expensive I-beams. This is steel. This costs a lot of money. If you’ve ever done construction, you know how expensive this all is. Look at the corridor behind me. This vast underground infrastructure all meant to do one thing, bring destruction to the people of Israel. And as we start traveling down this corridor, I want you to remember why this thing is here. Again, it’s not for fighting on behalf of the people of Lebanon. Let me close this door. It’s not for that. It’s to harm the people of Israel. That’s why there’s a massive generator in here. And look at this infrastructure. That’s why they built this vast construction labyrinth. This is an underground bunker as it was explained to us upstairs. An underground bunker meant to be a tactical hiding place for Hezbollah terrorists. So, you have the diesel fuel over here. You have the generator over there. It’s all here. All to be something used against the people of Israel.”
“Can you explain what this tunnel was actually used for?”
“So this this tunnel most likely was used as a command and control center for the Hezbollah battalion that was displaced and and organized around the Al-Khayam village. The fact that we assume that that was the case because of the amount of power, the generator, the the air supply, the cabling and everything. So, this is suggest that that this was the probably the main objective. We also found here a lot of ammunition, Cornet missiles, AK-47s, and things like that. The main purpose here was probably either type of command and control or some kind of a command outpost or something along those lines.”
“And Hezbollah terrorists that would live in this area, so they’re not within raid distance of Israeli communities. They would be what, launching rockets?”
“Well, raid from here is is is is within Is it a within a vehicle? By foot. By foot, they would raid from here? Yeah, with the both. I mean, think about it. This is about 4 to 4 and 1/2 5 km from from Metula. Yeah. Our northernmost community on the border. If I walk, not even run, it will take me an hour and a half. And the word battalion Hezbollah operative Hezbollah that was there operation plan, that actually we know.”
“Has your personal opinion has it changed in the last, let’s say, 6 to 12 months as to Hezbollah, as to what they’ve done in this region compared to what you knew previously?”
“Well, we were surprised tactically, not strategically, from the amount of infrastructure. Mhm. We we knew that they investing a lot of infrastructure. We knew they’re building a lot of bunkers. We knew all that. We were surprised to find nearly in each and every house or every second house some kind of Hezbollah asset. Sometimes it was a camera at the rooftop. Mhm. Sometimes it will be one room in an apartment that has five five rooms. Sometimes it will be like this one, a bunker under a store. Mhm. But what it taught us is that Hezbollah over the years did a systematic highly invested, highly regulated and registered in terms of building the Shia villages. And many of the Shia villages as a military compound designed to attack our civilians. So, everything you see here is in a on an attack plan, not on a defense plan. Again, it’s it’s sometimes funny I need to remind that everyone. On October 7th, we did not launch the first strike, the first attack on on Lebanon. Hezbollah did. Yeah. Same time again, this time on May 11th in February we got the the clear orders from higher command, sit still, do not engage. Because we’re focusing with the US on Iran. Don’t open a second front. Hezbollah launched this strike against us, so we had no choice. So, it’s like it’s it’s a repetitive muscle that they’re flexing.”
“If we need to prove again and again that Hezbollah is determined. Here inside of El Khiam, it is easier to understand that. The tunnel is not only concrete and earth, it is a plan. It is an investment of years. It is part of the Iranian idea to build a ring around Israel. With Hamas in the south, Hezbollah in the north, militias in Iraq and Syria, Houthis in Yemen, and a nuclear threat above it all. Each front looks separate, but all of them are connected to the same center power in Tehran. That’s why Israel can’t look at Lebanon as a separate event. What happens here is connected to Hormuz. What happens in Hormuz is connected to the nuclear issue. What happens with the nuclear issue is connected to money, and what happens with the money eventually returns to rockets, drones, precision missiles, and tunnels in southern Lebanon.”
“This is a war of patience, meter after meter, room after room, shaft after shaft, and every discovery like this one removes another part of Hezbollah’s ability to surprise Israel in the future. It doesn’t cancel the threat in one day, but it changes the equation. Instead of Hezbollah sitting underground and waiting for the right moment, the IDF enters its space and forces it to lose the advantage it prepared for itself.”
“And here we also bring in the Lebanese voice we have seen in recent days. Go make Lebanon great again. A young Lebanese Christian stands in front of the camera and calls on President Joseph Aoun to do something that is almost never said out loud in Lebanon. Speak with Benjamin Netanyahu, reach an agreement and remove the revolutionary guards from Lebanon’s veins. He uses Christian language. He quotes ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ and is essentially saying something very simple. Lebanon cannot continue living as Iran’s hostage. The voice is important not because it represents all of Lebanon. It’s important because it exposes a crack. For years, Hezbollah sold the Lebanese people the story that its weapons protect them. But more and more Lebanese are seeing the result. A country that has collapsed economically, young people leaving, a weak government, a border turned into a war zone, and villages in the south turned into a forward infrastructure of the revolutionary guards. That young man is not speaking out of love for Israel. He’s speaking out of exhaustion from the Lebanon that has been hijacked. This is a point that must be understood. Not everyone who calls for an agreement with Israel suddenly becomes a Zionist. Sometimes, he simply understands that living under Hezbollah means living without a future. Without a stable economy, without real sovereignty, without the ability to decide on your own whether your country goes to war or chooses peace.”
“And this is exactly Hezbollah’s fear. This is the deeper story of this episode. On one side, an Iranian regime trying to force the world into an agreement that will save its network of proxies. On the other side, the IDF operating on the ground to dismantle the infrastructure of the most important proxy on Israel’s border. And in the middle, Lebanon. A country with people who want to live, work, raise children, not wake up every few years to a new war decided in Tehran.”
“Now that we’re out of the tunnel, back here in Kiryat Shmona in daylight, the picture becomes more clear. Hezbollah’s threat is not only in what it launches, it is in what it hides. It is the silence before the fire in the ground beneath the villages and in the years when the world preferred not to see what was being built there. Now Israel is saying, ‘No more.’ No more return of the Radwan force to the fence. No more tunnels beneath the source. No more agreement that gives Iran time to rebuild the threat. The question now is whether the world will understand this in time. Will Washington demand that Iran truly dismantle capabilities or settle for a temporary ceasefire? Will Lebanon manage to regain its sovereignty or will Hezbollah continue speaking in its name? And will Israel be able to bring the residents of the north back home without leaving the next war underground? At the end of this day, after the ride, the entry into the field, the briefings, the dust, the vest in the tunnel, one thing remains clear. This war is not taking place only in the skies above Iran or in the water near Hormuz. It’s also taking place underground in southern Lebanon. And there you can see why a ceasefire without dismantling infrastructure is not security. It is only a pause before the next round.”
“Keep looking for us, Mati Shoshani and Yehu Pinto on social media to see life in Israel through our eyes. Let’s pray for the people of Israel as always that we stand strong, protect our soldiers, both men and women, and of course don’t forget to pray for the men and women in uniform of the United States fighting in this region. And above all, always pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the people of Israel. Be strong, guys. We’ll see you the next time.”
“Hello, this is Mati here in Jerusalem with TBN Israel. This is Ya’akov Pinto from TBN Israel here in Jerusalem. TBN Israel is keeping viewers informed with Israel focused news, culture, and what God is doing in this land. Support TBN Israel today online at tbn.org/israel. Thank you.”
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
