MAJDAL ZOUN, LEBANON — A powerful explosion echoed across the hills of southern Lebanon and northern Israel on Sunday night, June 28, 2026 as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out a controlled demolition of a strategic, Iranian-designed Hezbollah tunnel network hidden beneath the village of Majdal Zoun.

The demolition was formally announced in a joint statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, who confirmed that the United States had been notified ahead of the operation. The destruction of the facility comes amid a highly volatile border environment following a recently brokered U.S. security framework.

According to military officials, the subterranean compound stretched over 200 meters long and was fortified more than 25 meters beneath the surface. Discovered during targeted ground operations by the IDF’s 551st Brigade and the Yahalom elite combat engineering unit, the site was described as a key tactical asset for Hezbollah that took nearly a decade to construct.

The IDF reported that the complex was built using specialized technology and engineering expertise provided directly by Iran. Inside the network's 12 rooms, troops uncovered a substantial cache of military equipment, including anti-tank missiles, explosives, warheads, and dozens of dismantled attack drones. The underground fortress also featured living quarters and four fortified launch shafts concealed just meters from a local civilian mosque, designed to fire unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and munitions directly toward northern Israeli communities.

The demolition—part of an operation codenamed Sof Pasuk (Closing Verse)—sent shockwaves that could be felt kilometers away in the Upper Galilee region. Because the fortified structure was heavily reinforced with blast doors, military engineers determined it was invulnerable to standard airstrikes and had to be systematically mapped and rigged with explosives from the inside.

Prior to the blast, local regional councils in northern Israel advised residents that the impending detonations were controlled military activity and posed no immediate danger to civilian communities on the Israeli side of the border.

The targeted destruction of the complex highlights the ongoing security friction along the border. Under the terms of the U.S.-mediated framework agreement, a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from specific pilot areas is intended to make way for the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces. However, the agreement allows the IDF to maintain operations within an expanded security zone to eliminate immediate threats.

Hezbollah leadership has fiercely condemned the continued operations, calling them a flagrant violation of agreements, while Netanyahu reaffirmed that Israeli forces will remain engaged in the security zone for as long as necessary to safeguard northern communities and dismantle remaining hostile infrastructure.