JERUSALEM (VINnews)-The Israeli military has destroyed a major Hezbollah tunnel system beneath the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement Thursday.

The Israel Defense Forces used 700 tons of explosives to demolish the subterranean facility, the leaders said. The operation had been planned for an earlier date but was postponed because of the ceasefire.

Netanyahu and Katz said the demolition was carried out in response to Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire agreement a day earlier, when the group targeted an unmanned bulldozer with an explosive drone.

In its own statement, the IDF said it demolished “several key underground routes in the Beaufort Ridge area.”

“Over the past several weeks, IDF troops completed securing the Beaufort Ridge area, while taking control of and clearing the underground infrastructure and preparing it for destruction,” the military said.

The IDF had already demolished one section of the Beaufort Ridge tunnel network on July 13. With the latest operation, most of the tunnel system in the area has been destroyed, according to the military.

The IDF continues to monitor a major Hezbollah tunnel network beneath the Ali Taher ridge, where dozens of operatives are still believed to be positioned.