The IDF Engineering Corps is fashioning a 9-10 meter (30-33ft) cliff around the border community of Hanita, making it harder for Hezbollah terrorists to cross into Israel during the next war.

The Israel Defense Forces invited Reuters on Wednesday to film ongoing construction work along Israel’s border with Lebanon, where bulldozers have been at work excavating a cliff.

The IDF is excavating part of a cliff to create an additional barrier along its border with Lebanon  – Photo: Reuters

Lt. Gen. Eli David, an engineering officer in a northern division, told Reuters that similar construction works were taking place all along the Israeli-Lebanon border. They are meant to strengthen the country’s border and protect local communities from infiltrators, he said.

“We can see here a part of a project called ‘Organizing the Area,'” David said. “The aim of Project Organizing the Area is to create barriers and a defense line all across the Galilee. A part of the project’s goal is to provide answers to Hezbollah’s plans for the next war.”

David said the works started near the community of Shlomi in northern Israel in January 2015.

According to the IDF, a 9- to 10-meter (30- to 33-foot) cliff now bounds the nearby community of Hanita, making it much harder for unwanted visitors to cross into Israel.

Local resident Hani Hatam said she feels safer since the construction started.

“I’ve been living in Shtula [a moshav on the northern border] for the past 35 years, and in the past few years the security situation has scared me a bit,” she said. “Since they have been working here — the army’s investing in engineering works — I feel safer, and so do my children and my grandchildren.”

Israel and Hezbollah have avoided large-scale confrontation along their 80-kilometer (50-mile) frontier since the 34-day Second Lebanon War in 2006.

View original Israel Hayom publication at:
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=32929