Israeli Forces Seize Beaufort Castle in Southern Lebanon as Incursion Deepens

Israeli forces seized Beaufort Castle, a Crusader-era fortress in southern Lebanon, as they deepened their incursion into Lebanon after days of fierce fighting in nearby villages.

The capture came as Israel’s invasion of south Lebanon accelerated after a supposed ceasefire on 17 April, with white phosphorus smoke used as a smoke screen for advancing Israeli soldiers and an Israeli flag rising over the castle.

Al Jazeera

CNN reported that the Israeli military seized Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon after days of fierce fighting and as Israel continued to deepen their incursion into Lebanon, while AP said the Israeli army captured the strategic mountain topped with a Crusader-built castle in the deepest incursion into the country in more than a quarter-century.

AP said the taking of Beaufort castle, near the city of Nabatiyeh, followed days of airstrikes and intense fighting in nearby villages between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants, and it described the latest Israel-Hezbollah war as beginning on March 2 after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel.

In the same period, Al Jazeera said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to “expand its ground manoeuvre in Lebanon,” after Israeli military ordered residents living south of Lebanon’s Zahrani River to leave their homes and move north.

A tour guide in south Lebanon, Hussain Alawieh, said the raising of the Israeli flag and the flag of the Golani Brigade above the castle caused a shock to him and to all southerners and Lebanese people.

Alawieh described the capture as a symbol of steadfastness and of resistance in south Lebanon, and he said the raising of the Israeli flag was intended to send a message of psychological domination and defeat.

Al Jazeera

In Israel, Joseph Cedar, director of the film “Beaufort,” told ynet that “It is a really depressing day,” and he said the flag flying again over the Beaufort outpost is “a reminder of fixed thinking, of failure.”

Cedar argued that “The conception is not military — it is human,” and he said there is a limit to power but “there is no limit to suffering,” while CNN’s Isobel Yeung reported the seizure as Israel continue to deepen their incursion into Lebanon.

Meanwhile, AP reported that Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a key Hezbollah ally, said he can guarantee Hezbollah’s “full, comprehensive and immediate commitment to a ceasefire,” but asked “But who will force Israel to stop its aggression?”

Arab News reported that Lebanon remains committed to negotiations with Israel and will not use force to disarm the Iran-backed Hezbollah, citing a Lebanese official who said the approach advocated by Israel and the US had not succeeded.

That same Arab News source said the capture of Beaufort Castle raised concerns that the situation on the ground was shifting in ways that could pave the way for expanded military operations deeper into southern Lebanon, and it described Israeli control of the castle as allowing the Israeli army to advance toward Ali Al-Taher Hill.

Arab News also quoted a Lebanese military source saying Israeli forces would be able to control, through fire, sight, and surveillance, the Marjeyoun Plain, Nabatieh, and the settlements of the Galilee Panhandle, and monitor the Litani River from south to east.

Al Jazeera said the deepening invasion brought “death, destruction” to southern Lebanon, reporting that more than 3,412 people have been killed and 10,269 others wounded in Israeli attacks across the country since March 2, and it said Hezbollah claimed several military operations against Israel by Sunday afternoon.

In parallel, Al Jazeera reported that Hezbollah claimed a rocket launch targeting the northern Israeli town of Safed and that Israel confirmed one of its soldiers was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack a day earlier, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since the current round of fighting escalated to 25.