Israel: The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that Israeli troops had taken control of a weapons stash under a playground in southern Lebanon. The weapons were discovered in a ten-meter-long Hezbollah subterranean bunker. Weapons were confiscated, including rockets, explosive charges, and rocket-propelled grenades. In an adjacent structure, troops also seized military hardware, intelligence papers, rocket launchers, and anti-tank missiles, the army claimed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised Monday night to prevent Iran-backed Hezbollah from regaining its pre-war level of power.

“To guarantee our safety in the north, we will need to conduct operations in a methodical manner, not only to stave off potential Hezbollah strikes. A truce may exist, but no one can be sure it will last. Therefore, it’s not only our response, a preventative response, a response to the assault, but also the ability to stop Hezbollah from becoming stronger,” Netanyahu said in a speech to the Knesset.

Hezbollah strategy heavily utilizes civilian areas, which house many other weapons, including ballistic missiles, according to Sarit Zahavi, president and founder of the Alma Research Center, who spoke to The Press Service of Israel in August.

“Hezbollah stores their weapons everywhere, both between villages and within the villages themselves,” she said.

“By and large, every third house in the Shi’ite villages of south Lebanon is used in some way by Hezbollah for military purposes, be it weapons storage, the entrance of a tunnel, or a launchpad for shooting rockets at Israel,” she said. Even cruise missiles that are ready to fire have been discovered by soldiers inside houses.

Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas assaults, Hezbollah started firing drones and rockets into villages in northern Israel on a regular basis. Over 68,000 people have been forced from their homes in northern Israel. Leaders of Hezbollah have said again and again that they would carry out the assaults in order to prevent Israelis from going back to their homes.

Hezbollah is prohibited from conducting operations in southern Lebanon south of the Litani River in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which put an end to the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

On October 7, Hamas attacked Israeli villages along the Gaza border, killing at least 1,200 people and taking 252 Israelis and foreigners captive. Over 30 of the 97 captives who are still alive have been pronounced dead. Along with the remains of two soldiers murdered in 2014, Hamas has also been keeping two Israeli citizens hostage during 2014 and 2015.