Israeli forces have seized Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon and raised the Israeli flag above its medieval ramparts in their deepest ground incursion into the country since 2000 — with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring it a “decisive shift” in the war against Hezbollah as international alarm over the rapidly expanding offensive intensifies.
The 900-year-old Crusader fortress, built on a commanding hilltop overlooking the Litani River valley just nine miles from the Israeli border, was taken by troops of the Golani Brigade’s Reconnaissance Unit in an operation that began several days ago and crossed beyond the Litani River’s 90-degree bend near the Israeli border community of Metula. The IDF said the Beaufort Ridge and Wadi Saluki area was home to “significant” Hezbollah infrastructure established with Iranian assistance, from which the group “managed the fighting and carried out numerous terror attacks,” with hundreds of rockets fired at Israel and IDF troops from the area.
Netanyahu described the operation in sweeping terms. “We returned to Beaufort stronger than ever,” he said, adding that Israeli forces had “broken the barrier of fear” and were “operating on all fronts — in Syria, in Gaza, in Lebanon.” Defence Minister Israel Katz, who recalled the bloody 1982 battle to capture the site from the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said the Golani Brigade had returned and that Israeli soldiers “will remain there as part of the security zone in Lebanon.”
Described by UNESCO as one of the best-preserved examples of medieval castles in the Near East, Beaufort Castle has been at the centre of repeated modern conflicts. Israel captured it in 1982, held it for 18 years while Hezbollah and the PLO repeatedly shelled it to try to dislodge the occupiers, and then withdrew as part of its full pullout from southern Lebanon in 2000. A quarter century later, the same fortress is once again under Israeli military control — this time as part of what the IDF describes as an operation to “expand the Forward Defense Line” and establish “operational control” north of the Litani.
The capture of the castle is only the most visible symbol of a rapidly deepening ground campaign. The IDF said it was also operating near Nabatieh, a significant Hezbollah stronghold further north, and was “prepared to expand the offensive as required.” Israel has simultaneously expanded the evacuation zone in southern Lebanon to cover the entire area below the Zahrani river — the second such expansion in recent days.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the offensive in a televised address. “Israel must know that its scorched-earth policy, collective punishment and expropriation of villages and towns will not achieve security and stability but will instead deepen the divide with the Lebanese people,” he said. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported 13 hospital staff injured in an airstrike near Hiram hospital in Tyre, which caused significant damage to the facility.
France, which has deep historical ties with Lebanon, has called an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told broadcaster BFMTV the continued Israeli offensive was “a major mistake for Israel,” adding: “Nothing can justify the prolongation of military operations in Lebanon and its increasingly deep occupation of Lebanese territory.”
A US-brokered ceasefire remains technically in place but has largely collapsed, with both Israel and Hezbollah accusing each other of repeated violations. Iran has said any wider peace agreement must also include an end to the conflict in Lebanon — a condition that threatens to complicate the ongoing US-Iran diplomatic process. A fourth round of negotiations between Israeli and Lebanese government delegations is nevertheless scheduled to take place in Washington this week, though Hezbollah is not party to those talks.
Since Lebanon was drawn into the broader regional conflict on 2 March, Lebanese authorities say more than 3,300 people have been killed. Twenty-five Israeli soldiers have died. One further Israeli soldier was confirmed killed and four others lightly wounded in the fighting around Beaufort Castle on Sunday.
