EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

• In 2006, Hezbollah was able to achieve tactical, operational, and even strategic victory through its use of the subterranean environment.
• Hezbollah, an example of the irregular element of the hybrid threat construct, created a complex integrated network of underground tunnels and bunkers throughout southern Lebanon as a key component of its planned defense.
• Hezbollah’s use of the subterranean environment can be broken up into three main functions: cache sites, command and control (C2) facilities, and defensive positions. While these functions are separate and distinct, it is important to note that Hezbollah’s underground facilities (UGF) system was integrated. Many defensive positions also provided a key cache site and many C2 nodes were located alongside caches and in defensive positions.
• In Hezbollah’s creation of its network of tunnels and bunkers, it took into consideration not only the defensive characteristics of the terrain but also known Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) avenues of approach to ensure that its concealed firing positions and defensive positions could be exploited to the maximum.