IDF locates Hezbollah weapons and terror tunnels in church and school in southern Lebanon

During operations activity in southern Lebanon on Friday, IDF forces located active infrastructure, including tunnels, belonging to the Hezbollah terror organization inside a church compound in the village of Al-Khiyam. 

During searches in the area, the soldiers exposed and located a tunnel shaft and an underground infrastructure constructed within the church compound. 

The tunnel route was revealed during an operation by fighters of the Givati ​​Brigade, as part of operations conducted by the 91st Division, following intelligence indicating that the place had become an active combat zone. 

The complex was already known to security forces, after it was first located by soldiers in December 2024, when it was cleared of terrorists and weapons. During the searches conducted at that time, weapons caches were found alongside accommodations for a lengthy stay, including mattresses and food, which had been used by the terrorists. 

🎥WATCH: IDF troops located active Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure within the vicinity of a church in the area of Al-Khiyam.

Additionally, the troops located 3 additional shafts built by Hezbollah during the ceasefire, indicating renewed use of the site.

Hezbollah… pic.twitter.com/8f3lTzZ5T9

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 27, 2026

However, during the most recent searches in the church area, three new shafts were discovered that Hezbollah had established during the ceasefire, indicating an attempt to rehabilitate the terrorist infrastructure in the area, in violation of the existing Lebanon ceasefire. 

“The repeated use of this site demonstrates Hezbollah’s systematic modus operandi of exploiting Lebanese civilians as human shields and deliberately embedding military infrastructure within religious sites and civilian areas,” the military said in a statement. 

The IDF said the deliberate use of civilian religious institutions for military purposes harms its status, and directly endangers the local population, an act that "constitutes a violation of international law.” 

The use of the church in Al-Khiyam is not an isolated incident, but part of a systematic and long-standing pattern of action by Hezbollah, which exploits the Christian population in Lebanon and turns its villages into battlegrounds, the military said. 

Also on Friday, the IDF showed evidence that Hezbollah was storing weapons inside a school in the same town, along with items from the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR. 

🎥WATCH: HEZBOLLAH WEAPONS FOUND IN A SCHOOL

Inside of a school in the area of Al-Khiyam in southern Lebanon, IDF troops found anti-tank rockets, mortar shells, grenades, launchers, light firearms, explosives and more.

All of this was found alongside UNHCR markings of the… pic.twitter.com/IkwJXTq3n0

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 27, 2026

Hezbollah embeds terror infrastructure in civilian and Christian spaces, leaves residents under daily threat and damages their property, and even acts in an attempt to take control of land and assets in these areas, the IDF claimed. The military said it has documented cases in which Hezbollah prevented Christian civilians from fleeing combat zones after IDF evacuation warnings, and even opened fire on residents who tried to leave the area. 

The IDF emphasized that its activity within the church vicinity was conducted based on precise intelligence indicating Hezbollah activity in the area and its use as an active military site to target Israeli civilians.