MAYS AL-JABAL, Lebanon (AP) — As Israeli excavators dug into the rocky hills along the frontier with a Lebanese village, a crowd of young Lebanese men gathered to watch.

The mood was light as the crowd observed what Israel says is a military operation — dubbed “Northern Shield” — aimed at destroying attack tunnels built by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. The young men posed for selfies, with the Israeli crew in the background, as they burned fires and brewed tea to keep warm. More about
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But Lebanese soldiers were visibly on high alert, deploying to new camouflaged posts behind sandbags and inside abandoned homes. About two dozen U.N. peacekeepers stood in a long line, just ahead of the blue line demarcating the frontier between the two countries technically still at war.

The scene highlights the palpable anxiety that any misstep could lead to a conflagration between Israel and Lebanon that no one seems to want.

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Hezbollah’s tunnels

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister on Thursday asked the international community to impose additional sanctions on Hezbollah and condemn the Lebanese militant group in response to the discovery of tunnels stretching from southern Lebanon into northern Israel.

Stepping up an international pressure campaign against Hezbollah, Israel also hosted the commander of a U.N. peacekeeping force, showing him one of the tunnels and urging the force to take action across the border.

The Israeli military this week launched an open-ended operation meant to expose and thwart what it says are tunnels built by the Lebanese militant group aimed at infiltrating Israel. The two sides are bitter enemies and fought an inconclusive monthlong war in 2006.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, toured the operation’s area with a group of foreign ambassadors Thursday.

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