BEIRUT: Nabatiyeh and its surrounding villages, along with towns and villages in Jezzine, Hasbaya and Marjayoun, were shaken by massive explosions on Thursday night as Israel destroyed large parts of the Ali Al-Taher heights in southern Lebanon. By the following day, the implications of the major Israeli operation remained uncertain. Would Israel stop after destroying the heights, or would it seek to seize further Lebanese territory to gain additional leverage ahead of direct negotiations with Lebanon? The areas affected by the detonation of an estimated 1,100 tons of explosives were rocked by a tremor measuring more than magnitude 4. Rocks and debris were thrown across nearby homes and vehicles, leaving residents with little time to contemplate what might come next. After a night of explosions, anxiety returned. Villages were brought to a standstill and a new wave of displacement began. Images filmed by residents on their mobile phones and circulated online showed more than five large craters created by the blasts, extensive destruction and a visible alteration of the hills’ terrain and geographical features. The effects of the explosions were clearly visible at the foot of the heights from the Kfar Tibnit side, where Israeli forces are in full control, and from the Nabatiyeh side, where destruction could be seen along the lower slopes. Falling rocks completely blocked the Khardali road, forcing Lebanese army units operating in areas of the south not under Israeli occupation to use the Bekaa route instead. The US Geological Survey said it had detected a magnitude 4.1 seismic event in southern Lebanon, while the Israeli newspaper Maariv cited Israel’s Geological Survey as recording a seismic event in the same area resulting from what it described as a “controlled explosion.” The destruction of the Ali Al-Taher heights came about a week after Israel announced that it had seized them, claiming that Hezbollah had built what it described as strategic tunnels and military installations beneath the area. Hezbollah has remained silent. The importance of Ali Al-Taher stems from its location and terrain, which make it part of a sensitive military geography extending toward Nabatiyeh, Iqlim Al-Tuffah and Jezzine. Its destruction therefore cannot be separated from continuing Israeli military operations in the surrounding area as Israel seeks to settle accounts with Hezbollah, with operations increasingly shifting from long-range strikes to imposing new realities on the ground. According to the Israeli account, forces from the 36th Division, commando units and the Yahalom combat engineering unit had intensified military pressure in recent months on Hezbollah fighters entrenched in underground installations beneath the heights. Israel said the first stage involved establishing operational control above ground through offensive operations, ambushes and attacks on tunnel entrances using gunfire, grenades, drones and airstrikes. Forces then moved to take control of the tunnel network, identifying exits and preventing attempts to supply the fighters inside. The Israeli military said the network consisted of eight tunnel routes totaling more than 5,400 meters. It claimed that most had been destroyed and could no longer be used to shelter fighters or plan military operations. Israel said dozens of explosive drones and unmanned aircraft were discovered inside the network, along with machine guns, anti-tank missiles, hundreds of mines, RPG rounds, explosive devices and other military equipment. It said the network also contained command rooms, weapons depots, generators, sleeping quarters, bathrooms and a kitchen, describing it as a major command-and-control center belonging to Hezbollah’s Badr unit. Israeli military Arabic-language spokesperson Ella Waweya posted footage on X that she described as “exclusive scenes” from underground passages destroyed beneath the Ali Al-Taher heights, as well as an image she said showed the tunnel network Hezbollah had constructed beneath the Beaufort and Ali Al-Taher heights. The full picture, however, remains unclear. Israeli military operations continued on Friday through airstrikes, artillery shelling and the destruction of additional residential structures inside the area of the Israeli incursion, apparently aimed at changing the rules governing deployment and movement there. An official Lebanese source told Arab News that military and political authorities expected the Israeli advance to stop at the Ali Al-Taher heights. The source also rejected Israeli reports that the eighth round of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel would take place in Rome next Tuesday and Wednesday. “Lebanon has not received any official date from the American side for this session,” the source said, adding that it would logically take place after the preparatory meeting for the conference supporting the Lebanese army, which Paris is due to host on Sept. 16 and 17. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the Ali Al-Taher hills as “the largest Iranian site outside Iran.” Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that following the destruction of the tunnels, Israel’s “security zone” now extended “from the coast in the west to Beaufort and Mount Hermon in the east.” Days earlier, the Israeli military had floated a proposal under which Israel would withdraw from what it calls the “yellow line,” around 10 km deep inside southern Lebanon, to a “gray line” extending only 4 to 5 km. The question now is whether Israel will stop after destroying the heights, move downhill toward Nabatiyeh, or push upward toward the Rayhan and Sajd heights, Iqlim Al-Tuffah and Tumat Niha overlooking Mashghara and the Bekaa Valley. Nabatiyeh is one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon and holds particular symbolic importance for the Shiite community, as it is widely regarded as the capital of Jabal Amel. It now lies within range of Israeli forces. No one can confidently predict what Netanyahu intends to do next. Retired Lebanese army Brig. Gen. Khalil Gemayel told Arab News that Israel’s destruction of Ali Al-Taher had strengthened its position ahead of negotiations with Lebanon. “By destroying the Ali Al-Taher heights, Israel can go to the negotiating table with Lebanon in a comfortable position and capable of imposing its conditions, unless the Iranian file becomes more complicated,” he said. Gemayel said an Israeli occupation of Nabatiyeh could not be ruled out. “Israel is pressing for further shocks, and the Israeli military’s talk about a gray zone is merely intended to absorb any reaction from Hezbollah and Iran,” he said. “The destruction of Ali Al-Taher is one stage of what Israel has planned. It could be followed by an advance toward Jabal Al-Rayhan and the Jezzine area, where a major battle with Hezbollah could take place. Israel could also occupy the coastal city of Tyre. Everything depends on the course of regional escalation.” Gemayel said Israel had learned from previous military experiences, particularly in Gaza, and was now pursuing what he described as a strategy of destruction, crushing force and scorched earth against those it considers enemies. “Hezbollah has not yet been weakened completely,” he said. “According to its ideology, it is a resistance movement, and losing territory is not supposed to affect it. But when it tried to hold Ali Al-Taher, it could not fight an army and lost it, just as it previously lost border territory in the last war.” Gemayel said Israel’s surveillance capabilities had developed significantly, preventing Hezbollah from carrying out operations behind Israeli lines. “Israel is winning because it is moving cautiously, drawing on its military experience and its decision not to leave anyone behind,” he said. “When Israel broke Hezbollah’s first line of defense, the group retreated, and the Israelis dug through the ground from above and below.” Gemayel said Hezbollah still possessed weapons and remained capable of fighting, but that the broader environment had turned increasingly against it. “The Lebanese government has banned its military wing and decided to confiscate its weapons. Syria is now closed to it, and Hezbollah’s own support base has begun expressing discontent publicly,” he said. “Meanwhile, Israel is not seeking heroic battlefield victories. It is content to kill its opponent without suffering losses. Hezbollah must become convinced that it has to stop.” Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted a senior military official in Israel’s security establishment as saying that Hezbollah had pressed Tehran for support, but that Iran had no reason to intervene in developments in Lebanon. “If Iran decides to intervene, it will face a rapid response that Israel has already prepared,” the official was quoted as saying.