Tunnels, a 'complex' or Hezbollah's 'last line of defense': three outlets size one Israeli demolition three ways, and only France 24 reports a 4.1 tremor

What we hold. Three reports, all published on 11 September within 28 minutes of each other. All three say Israel destroyed underground Hezbollah positions beneath the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon. The Jerusalem Post and France 24 both source this to Israel's military, so it is one account, not two.

Three sizes for one site.

The only number. France 24 reports that the blast triggered "a 4.1-magnitude tremor". It does not say who measured it. Neither of the other reports mentions a tremor.

Who is not heard. None of the three quotes Hezbollah or a Lebanese official. None says whether anyone was hurt, or whether anyone lives near the ridge.

What is not settled - What lay under the ridge. The only description is Israel's, including the military graphic the Jerusalem Post runs. - Who recorded the tremor, and where. - Whether Hezbollah or Lebanon disputes any of it. We hold no account from either. - Anything beyond the opening lines of France 24 and The Independent, which is all we hold of them. All three reports are in English.

What this is about. Israel's military says it destroyed a tunnel network dug by Hezbollah under a ridge inside southern Lebanon, and that its troops are staying on the ground above it.

How it got here. Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia political party and armed movement, formed in the 1980s during Lebanon's civil war and Israel's occupation of the south. It is the one Lebanese faction that kept its weapons when the civil war ended, and all three reports describe it as backed or aligned with Iran. Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon in 2000. The two fought a month-long war in 2006, after which the UN Security Council called for the border strip to hold no armed force but the Lebanese state's. That was never carried out.

The present war began on 2 March, The Independent says. Israeli forces pushed into southern Lebanon and took positions there, among them the Ali al-Taher ridge — about 15 km from the Israeli border, and within what The Independent calls an expanded, self-declared Israeli buffer zone. Lebanese security sources told Reuters in July that Hezbollah had built a command centre and weapons stores beneath it.

Who is in it. Israel, which says it is dismantling Hezbollah's ability to rebuild. Hezbollah, which holds the weapons at issue. The Lebanese state, whose army is meant to take over the south and whose news agency reported the blast being felt in Nabatieh. Iran, named in every report as Hezbollah's backer. The United States, which brokered the framework agreed after a ceasefire in June.

What is at stake. That framework asked Israel to withdraw in stages while Lebanese troops disarmed Hezbollah. It has stalled, The Independent reports: Hezbollah will not give up its weapons, and Israel says it will not leave until the group does. Each demolition makes the occupation of the strip harder to reverse.

Where it stands. Israel holds the ridge and says its troops will remain.