A screenshot from the video
The Hezbollah media wing in Syria published a video showing the main headquarters of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Wadi al-Khail in Jorud Arsal. According to the military media, the headquarters was dug inside a mountain with a space of 400 square metre and it was the main home of HTS leader in Jorud Aarsal, Abu Malik al-Tali.
During the tour, it appears that the headquarters included Mortar workshop and a large quantity of raw materials and explosive materials. The headquarters also included an equipped kitchen, several bedrooms and two bathrooms, as well as internal fortifications to protect HTS commanders in the event of any attack on the headquarters. The headquarters also included ventilation holes and electric installations based on several generators, batteries and LED lights.
One of the most shocking things is that the HQ included a large cell. According to the video, Lebanese soldiers captured by HTS in 2014 in Arsal town were placed in this cell inside the HQ. There were also five solitary cells with armored doors and a torture room.
The headquarters also included a hall dedicated to prayer and religious lectures. According to the Military Media, HTS used the hall for military training as well. Inside the hall, Hezbollah fighters found several extremist Islamic books. The Military Media pointed out that the HQ had several entrances, all hidden, along with guard posts outside.
Since the beginning of its founding, HTS has relied on subterranean installations and tunnels, especially in the eastern and eastern Ghouta. One of the most striking examples of this is the complex structure of tunnels in the Jobar district east of the capital Damascus, where the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is facing great difficulty in advancing in the eastern Ghouta because of it.
ISIS had also dug dozens of tunnels in Mosul and Raqqa as well, and has successfully used the tunnels dozens of times to attack the Iraqi Army in Mosul City. ISIS also relies on a set of points hidden inside the mountains or underground in the desert region between Iraq and Syria, where ISIS fighters usually hide at these points, ISIS also hides ammunition and weapons inside them.
It’s believed that the Palestinian HAMAS Movement has transferred this tactic to Al-Nusra Front in Syria at the end of 2011 to be used in its battles against SAA, especially in the attack of Damascus 2012. However, SAA and Iraqi Army have devised new tactics to reduce the risk of tunnels and have even dug their own tunnels to attack terrorist positions.
It seems that the Saudis are getting their asses kicked
HTS was manufacturing their own weapons and explosives, yet completely failed to hold Hezbollah back.
Daesh, you are next.
Tunnel warfare!
North Korea is believed to have started this trend of the tunnel-digging. They are the tunnel experts. They helped Hezbollah defeat Israel in the Summer War of 2006. Israelis were stunned at their defeat. Later, when they examined the situation, they found that Hezbollah, with the help of the Iranian Pasdaran and North Korean advisers, had dug a complex of tunnels and bunkers all over Southern Lebanon.
They had conducted high-level warfare, using sophisticated SIGINT signalling and counterintelligence (also learned from the North Koreans) in operations against the Israelis.
https://archive.is/Rh6Cc
They even tricked the IDF into thinking that faked messages had come from their command.
Unfortunately the North Koreans also taught the Palestinian Hamas these same techniques of tunnel warfare and SIGINT counterintelligence, and the turncoat Palestinians used them against the SAA, the army of their former protector Assad, helping the Israelis, their supposed enemies, to defeat Assad, a strong defender of Arabs and other gentiles in the region against the European Khazars.
With this, the opposition (ISIS, rebels, Palestinians) have been able to conduct asymmetric warfare against the SAA successfully.
History repeats. The Mongols invaded Syria and together they were about to launch an invasion of Palestine and Egypt.
Hulagu however was called away suddenly when someone in his family died and only a small force led the invasion force.
Breakaway soldiers who had learned the Mongol tactics taught the Arab side, the Mamluks, the secrets of Mongol warfare.
Hulagu’s commander was not able to defeat the Arab forces and the Mongol army and Syrian forces was defeated.
Hulagu decided not to invade this region again.
Now the Syrians are using the tunnel tactic to defeat the rebels.
You should look up the Canadians in World War 1 and the tunnels they built in limestone they still have tours go through them all the time. This type of warfare is nothing new and has been on view for a century.
I meant that they started this trend in the current Middle Eastern wars. Actually, the North Koreans probably learned the art of tunnel digging from the Japanese, who built extensive tunnels during the Pacific War.
Notable in Mosul was that IS had tunneling machines that could do a 2 meter bore (from video early in the siege of Mosul, a captured machine that was prior used in sewage construction)..
I would point out to Hezbollah that such underground facilities probably lack the necessary supporting structure to prevent cave ins over the long term, thus should be backfilled.