News Digest — 6/22/26
IDF Takes Over Massive Hezbollah Tunnel Full Of Rocket-Firing Shafts In Southern Lebanon
Soldiers from the 91st Division’s 551st Brigade have taken control of a massive Hezbollah tunnel in Majdal Zoun, about 10 km. into southern Lebanon, the IDF reported Sunday (21st).
The tunnel, 200 meters long and 25 meters deep, had four firing shafts to launch rockets, which the terror group had regularly used to target Israel, it said.
The shafts were difficult or impossible to destroy in airstrikes, but they can now be neutralized from up close, it added.
The IDF said it had killed 20 terrorists, including 10 members of the group’s Radwan force, while taking control of the tunnel.
Additionally, about 50 items of terrorist infrastructure and munitions, including drones, anti-tank missiles, and lookout positions, were seized or destroyed, It said.
The IDF published a video that showed some of the seized items, including very large and powerful rockets.
Another video taken by the Yahalom special unit of the Combat Engineering Corps showed 12 separate rooms and sections in the tunnel for a diverse spectrum of terrorist operations.
Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff LTG. Eyal Zamir on Sunday (21st) said “The ceasefire that was announced is shaky, and we need to be ready with the highest preparedness to renew our military actions, and to thwart the threats, including quickly transitioning to go on the attack if required.”
“All the IDF resources are dedicated to this,” he added.
One of the lessons of the October 7 massacre was that Israel would never again allow its enemies to build up their forces on the border for an attack, Zamit said.
The IDF has Hezbollah on the defensive by taking over not only the area around Majdal Zoun, including terrorist tunnels, but also the area and tunnels around Al Taher Ridge and Beaufort Castle, he said.
Zamir also expressed appreciation to the 401st Armored Brigade, which has recently lost several senior commanders, for its constant readiness to deploy to the front lines of battle from Gaza to Lebanon.
Netanyahu Responds To Trump: ‘What Would The U.S. Do?’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) International Policy Summit On Sunday (21st), declaring that Israel has achieved historic victories against Iran and its proxies , and vowing that the Jewish state will continue to defend itself on every front.
Netanyahu opened his remarks by addressing claims about his relationship with US President Donald Trump.
“In the United States, they say that President Trump does everything that I ask him to do, and in Israel, they say that I do everything he wants me to do. Neither is true,” Netanyahu said. “We’re leaders of independent, proud countries. We stand for our interests. I stand for the interests of Israel and for its security.”
The Prime Minister recalled that many opposed the major military decisions he made over the past year.
“They told me not to enter Rafah. I entered Rafah. I was told not to strike Hezbollah. We struck Hezbollah. They told me not to confront Iran. We confronted Iran,” Netanyahu said.
He rejected attempts to downplay Israel’s achievements in the war, stating that the country had eliminated an existential threat.
“We prevented Iran from carrying out a plan to annihilate us. And, today, they would have had a nuclear weapon, an atom bomb to do so. We prevented that from happening,” he said.
Netanyahu praised the joint Israel-American campaign against Iran, saying Israel and the United States carried out “the largest airstrike in our history,” destroying Iranian nuclear infrastructure, eliminating senior nuclear scientists, damaging Iran’s military capabilities, and striking the regime’s economic foundations.
“We created the conditions for its future fall. That is what will be the real triumph – when the Iranian people take their own destiny in their hands and they knock out this brutal regime that is terrorizing them and terrorizing the rest of the world,” he said.
The Prime Minister also listed Israel’s achievements against Iran’s terror network.
“We shattered Iran’s terror axis,” Netanyahu declared, noting the the elimination of Hamas’ leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif, along with tens of thousands of terrorists.
He said Israel’s military pressure in Gaza brought about the return of the hostages.
“We brought back every single hostage. Every last one of them,”he said. “We got them back because we put our brave soldiers, our incomparably heroic soldiers, right into the stronghold in Gaza.”
Turning to Lebanon, Netanyahu pointed to the severe damage inflicted on Hezbollah.
“We took out Nazrallah. We decimated Hezbollah’s military machine. We prevented the Radwan force from invading the Galilee. We destroyed over 90% of the 150,000 rockets and missiles that Hezbollah amassed against us,” he stated.
Netanyahu emphasized that Israel would continue maintaining security zones wherever necessary.
“We established a security zone in Gaza. We established a security zone in Syria. We established a security zone in Lebanon. And we shall keep them as long as necessary to protect our people,” he said.
The prime minister said one of Israel’s greatest accomplishments was changing its approach to threats.
“We changed Israel’s security doctrine. We initiate, we attack, we surprise, and we attack those enemies that seek our destruction before they have a chance to do so,” Netanyahu said.
Speaking just hours after attending the memorial marking 50 years since the fall of his brother, Lt.-Col. Yoni Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, recalled his father’s warning about the Iranian threat and vowed to continue his mission.
“No matter what happens in the talks, with an agreement, without an agreement, I pledge to you that Iran, as long as I’m prime minister, will never have a nuclear weapon. Never.” Netanyahu said.
He also defended Israel’s continued presence in southern Lebanon, comparing it to what any country would do if terrorists attacked its citizens from across the border.
“As long as we need to protect our people, we will remain in the security zone in South Lebanon,” he said.
Netanyahu rejected accusations against Israel’s conduct in battle, saying the IDF makes unprecedented efforts to avoid civilian casualties.
“No army goes to such lengths like the Israeli army to target terrorists and minimize civilian casualties. We should be commended for it, not condemned.” he said.
He said that no other nation, including the U.S. would act differently if faced with the same threats. “No country would be asked to do otherwise. Now, you imagine the United States. Across the border, you have thousands, an army of thousands, an army of thousands of terrorists who pellet your cities and your towns with rockets and ballistic missiles and killer drones. They kill your soldiers, they kill your citizens, they kill your children. And they threaten them every day. Well, what would America do? Would it say, well, there’s nothing we can do? Let’s hold our fire. Is that what America would say?”
“No. You know well what America would do. It would cross the border, create a security zone, kill the terrorists and protect its people until the threat is removed. That’s exactly what we are doing. And let me tell you something else. No country would do it better. No country would do it better because the terrorists do not just target civilians, they also hide among their own civilians,” Netanyahu said.
At the conclusion of his speech Netanyahu addressed the rise in global antisemitism and urged Jews around the world not to remain silent.
“Stand up. Don’t cower. Don’t be afraid. Fight back, because people will only respect us if we respect ourselves,” he said. “Stand up for the truth. Stand up for Israel. Stand up for the Jewish people. Stand up for the Jewish future.”
Trump Threatened Iran Over Hezbollah Attacks As Switzerland Talks Kicked Off
As talks between the United States and Iran got underway in Switzerland Sunday (21st), US President Donald Trump issued a sharp warning to Tehran, demanding that it rein in Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed groups operating in Lebanon.
In a post on social media, Trump said Iran must immediately stop its “highly-paid proxies” in Lebanon from “causing trouble,” warning that the United States would strike Iran again if the attacks continued.
“If they don’t stop, we will hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder,” Trump wrote.
The warning came after Trump told Fox News that the current arrangement with Iran is “not a deal with the Iranian regime” but rather an extension of the ceasefire reached following last week’s confrontation.
Trump says he remains in a strong negotiating position and warned that Iran faces serious consequences if it fails to honor its commitments.
“I hold the cards,” Trump told the news channel. “If the Iranians do not fulfill their obligations at the negotiating table, I have the option of 60 days and then I’ll do what I want.”
According to Fox News, Trump also revealed that he spoke with Iranian officials over the weekend and warned them against disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
“You close the strait and you won’t have a country,” Trump reportedly told the officials, adding that the United States would respond forcefully to any attempt to block maritime traffic.
Trump also responded sharply to remarks by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who declared that Iran would never relinquish what it considers its right to enrich uranium.
Warning Tehran to tone down its rhetoric, Trump said: “He better watch his mouth. He better shape up, or we’ll take over the rest of the country.”
The president’s comments came amid continued fighting in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has launched repeated attacks against Israeli forces despite ongoing calls for a ceasefire.
IDF Commander On Capturing The Beaufort Fortress In Lebanon – Ranan Shaked
Lt.-Col. Bar Vackert, commander of the Golan Brigade reconnaissance battalion, led the IDF’s return to the Beaufort fortress . He said, “As we were fighting in the villages of southern Lebanon, they fired anti-tank missiles and indirect fire at us from the direction of Beaufort… They are constantly shooting from there. So you want to get there.”
“We found an underground system there, a very large tunnel network, hundreds of meters long, with levels, ladders and rooms. From there, they fired and launched attacks on Israel, and that underground system alone justified getting there… The Beaufort ridge is a key terrain area with very great operational importance: it looks 360 degrees over the entire Nabatieh plateau on one side, and toward Metula and Israel on the other. You sit there, and you control.”
Q: Were soldiers afraid?
Vackert: “No. Every time I am surprised again that before these attacks, I have thoughts, concerns, and then I see the team commanders and the soldiers, and they have no concerns at all. They go out to attack, run, leap forward, and shoot without fear. It is amazing to see. They have such a passion to complete the mission that they are completely locked in. Nothing else interests them.”
“In every village in southern Lebanon we reached, small or large, we always found weapons and explosives inside homes, inside children’s rooms. It is unbelievable in an extreme way. There was not a single village where we did not find terror infrastructure and positions… The other side needs to understand that the price of firing at Israeli residents is very heavy, and that it will only keep losing more and more.”
Trump’s Iran Deal Has Already Emboldened Hamas – Khaled Abu Toameh
In response to the US “Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, Hamas is openly calling to escalate attacks against Israel and signaling its intention to shift the center of its jihad (holy war) from Gaza to the West Bank. To Hamas and the rest of Iran’s “Axis of resistance,” the deal between Washington and Tehran is being interpreted as a sign of American weakness and a victory for the Iranian regime – and proof that the US is eager to end conflicts at virtually any price.
The US has agreed in principle to Iran’s terms. Hamas officials have therefore been intensifying their calls for Palestinians to increase “all forms of resistance” and confront Israelis throughout the West Bank. According to Palestinian media affiliated with Hamas, 243 acts of “resistance” were recorded during May alone, including shootings, car-ramming attacks, armed clashes, demonstrations, and confrontations with Israeli security forces.
Israel reached several ceasefire agreements with Hamas in Gaza. Hamas repeatedly violated them. Israel reached understandings with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah violated them. The US reached ceasefires with Iran. Iran violated them.
International agreements and diplomatic arrangements do not persuade terrorist organizations in the Middle East to abandon their jihadist ideology or their objective of destroying Israel. Does anyone seriously believe that Iran and its proxies will behave differently now? Those celebrating an agreement with Iran should pay close attention to what Hamas is saying. Iran and the terrorists clearly believe they are winning. (Gatestone Institute)
