WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESS Newswire / February 14, 2025 / The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has published a new report titled "A Review Of The Use Of Tunnels By Hamas, Hizbullah, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, The Houthis, And Other Jihadi Groups And Ramifications For U.S. National Security." The active use of tunnels by many terrorist organizations for combat - including Hamas's 300-mile network underneath the Gaza Strip, as described in the report - have prompted strategic military interest in terrorist use of tunnels.
The study draws on 10 years of terrorist organizations' video productions, online posts, and other reporting, including never-before-seen releases of activity inside tunnels. It reviews tunnel use by jihadi terrorist groups around the world, including the Islamic State (ISIS), Al-Qaeda Syrian affiliate Hurras Al-Din, Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), Hizbullah, the Houthis, Hamas and its Al-Qassam Brigades, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and its Al-Quds Brigades, the Popular Resistance Brigades, Iran-backed militias in Syria, Harakat Muhajireen Ahl-e-Sunnat Iran, and other Syria-based jihadi groups.
In his foreword to the report, General (Ret) Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., USMC wrote: "This MEMRI report is timely and disturbing. They have done a remarkable job of exposing the new complexities of combat in a built-up urban area, and also how tunnels add a new and concerning dimension to conflict outside of urban areas. As they demonstrate, we now need to treat ground combat as far more than just tactical interaction on the surface of the earth and in the infrastructure that is above it... We are now in an era of genuine multi-dimensional operations."
Detailing how tunnels are being built and utilized by terror organizations, this study reviews their use for: military exercises, communication and dissemination of data and intelligence; training, transportation and logistics; resupply, storage, and smuggling; weapons manufacturing; infiltration, exfiltration, medical evacuation, and ambushes; maneuvering and flanking enemies and for cover and concealment for fighters; as a firing range; attacking or capturing soldiers; firing mortars and artillery; and for emplacing and deploying concealed multiple launch rocket systems. Jihadi groups often provide contact information, including via WhatsApp, for supporters to send funds for the construction of tunnels as well as trenches that have also been actively used by jihadis on many battlefields.
MEMRI Founder and President Yigal Carmon said of the report: "The cutting-edge research on terrorists and terrorism by MEMRI's team of researchers, the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM), over two decades, continues to set the gold standard. This report is a must-read for officials involved in counterterrorism around the world - as is our daily JTTM research."
The use of tunnels by adversaries has long been a concern for U.S. government and military planners, who have invested time and money, mainly through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), to extensively study it and develop technology to deal with this threat. Terrorist use of tunnels is also a U.S. national security issue - and not only because of threats to U.S. embassies and other places of interest, but because tunnels originating in Mexico and, as noted, Canada constitute a direct threat to homeland security.
The report's lead author, MEMRI Executive Director Dr. Steven Stalinsky, explained: "The threat of terrorist use of tunnels is at its peak. The tunnel from Mexico into the U.S., discovered last month - described as 'sophisticated' by U.S. federal officials - passed under the Rio Grande and the border wall and into storm drains in El Paso, TX. A network of tunnels constructed and used by Iran-backed militias was discovered last month in Deir Al-Zour, eastern Syria, as were deserted underground headquarters with tunnels that had been used both by these militias and by Russia's PMC Wagner to plan military operations. Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack should be a warning to the U.S. to be alert to terrorists using the attack as an example. Palestinian terrorists' methods have always been trendsetters for other terrorist organizations."
Government and media can request the full report or ask for an interview by sending an email to media@memri.org with "Tunnels Report" in the subject line.
ABOUT THE JIHAD & TERRORISM THREAT MONITOR (JTTM)
The MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) scrutinizes Islamist terrorism and violent extremism worldwide, with special focus on activity within and emanating from the Arab world, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, as well as on attacks and activity in the West inspired and encouraged by the Islamic State (ISIS), Al-Qaeda, and other global jihad organizations. This activity includes lone-wolf attacks by residents of Western countries.
The JTTM monitors imminent and potential threats posed by various terrorist and violent extremist organizations - such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, and emerging jihadi groups - and individuals. These threats, whether strategic, tactical, military, conventional, non-conventional, or cyber, may be against national security and public safety in the U.S. and the West, or against these countries' crucial interests and assets worldwide. It also examines and analyzes the ideological motivations behind these threats, and includes a decade and a half of archives of exclusive content on jihad and terrorism.
Exploring the Middle East and South Asia through their media, MEMRI bridges the language gap between the West and the Middle East and South Asia, providing timely translations of Arabic, Farsi, Urdu-Pashtu, Dari, Turkish, Russian, and Chinese media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends.
Founded in February 1998 to inform the debate over U.S. policy in the Middle East, MEMRI is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization. MEMRI's main office is in Washington, DC, with branch offices in various world capitals. MEMRI research is translated into English, French, Polish, Japanese, Spanish, and Hebrew.
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SOURCE: Middle East Media Research Institute
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