The IDF is planning new combat training that will prepare soldiers to fight underground, in tunnels built by terrorists, Maariv/nrg reports.
“The tunnels infrastructure has expanded and continues to expand. New, more technologically advanced tunnels have been found. So we cannot relate to this threat in the same manner we used to,” the paper quoted Lieutenant-Colonel Ziv Namni as saying.
“In the past, they laughed and said we would ‘go around’ urban areas; eventually they realized there was no choice but to know how to fight within them,” he recalled. “This time, the goal is to learn to deal with the threat while it is still growing.”
The IDF is planning to build replicas of terrorist tunnels, to be used in training. The military already uses mock Arab villages and urban centers in its training.
Hamas is known for its use of tunnels in Gaza terror, both as a means of importing weapons from Egypt, and for use in terrorist attacks and kidnappings within Israel. Terrorists in Syria have been using tunnels as well.
IDF commanders reportedly fear that Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah has been digging tunnels to Israel with the goal of carrying out attacks within Israeli territory.