IDF Finds Hezbollah Maps in Beaufort Tunnel Network Showing Threat to Northern Towns

The IDF said on Saturday that troops uncovered maps inside an underground tunnel network beneath the Beaufort Ridge, showing Hezbollah plans to attack communities in northern Israel. The find came during an ongoing effort to clear the subterranean system, which the military says was planned and financed by Iran. The maps were discovered hanging on a wall in the exact area where militants who tried to flee days earlier were identified and later killed in an airstrike.

The operation is being carried out by Division 36 and is part of a campaign planned for more than a year by Northern Command to remove the threat to the Upper Galilee and Metula. The army says Beaufort is a key high point overlooking nearby communities at short range, especially for anti-tank fire. According to the IDF, the area and its tunnels are considered strategic assets of Hezbollah.

A senior officer said the force had to secure the broader area before reaching the ridge. Troops first cleared the Litani River area, fought militants at close range, and opened routes under fire in difficult terrain. An initial attempt to cross the Litani was halted because conditions were not sufficient for the mission, he said.

Only after clearing nearby villages and engineering access routes under fire did the soldiers move up the mountain. The goal, the officer said, was to strike Hezbollah’s Badr Unit, whose headquarters and operatives were based in the area and formed the core of the group’s defense in southern Lebanon. The officer said the army remains concerned and must destroy the Iranian-built strategic assets there to truly remove the threat.