The IDF is currently carrying out Operation Northern Shield to expose and neutralize the attack tunnels dug by Hezbollah along the Israeli-Lebanese border. The construction of the tunnels is another example of the systematic, significant violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed at the end of the Second Lebanon War. So far four tunnels have been exposed which Hezbollah planned to infiltrate forces and attack northern Israeli towns and cities. Infiltrating Hezbollah forces is one aspect of the Iran and Hezbollah strategy to move the fighting into Israeli territory in the next war.

Security Council Resolution 1701, unanimously passed on August 11, 2006, was based on previous Security Council resolutions and on the Taif Agreement (which ended the Lebanese civil war). Resolution 1701 went into effect on August 14, 2006, after having been confirmed by the Israeli and Lebanese governments two days before. The objective of the resolution was to create a new reality in Lebanon in general and in south Lebanon in particular, in which the Lebanese government would be the only sovereign entity in the country, and Hezbollah and the other armed organizations were to disarm. According to the resolution, there would be security arrangements according to which the only armed forces south of the Litani River would be the Lebanese army, supported by UNIFIL.