Israel plants flag on medieval castle, pushes Lebanon ground operation
Israel's flag flew over the medieval fortress on Beaufort in Lebanon on Sunday as it warned Lebanese civilians to evacuate a large area of the south of the country ahead of stepped up ground operations.
Shelling was audible and smoke rose from the surrounding area as the invading army's banner was seen by AFP above the castle, which Israeli forces famously used as a base during their previous two-decade long occupation.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said troops had captured the historic strongpoint, which commands sweeping views of south Lebanon, as they expanded their ground operations, which Lebanon's prime minister has condemned as a "scorched earth" policy.
"Forty-four years after the heroic Battle of Beaufort, and on this day commemorating the soldiers who fell in the First Lebanon War, our troops have returned to the summit of Beaufort and once again raised the Israeli flag there," Katz said, in a social media post.
"Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and my direction, the IDF (army) expanded the operations in Lebanon, crossed the Litani River, and captured the Beaufort Ridge -- one of the most important strategic points for defending the communities of the Galilee and safeguarding the security of our forces."
The push to Beaufort came as the Israeli military issued a sweeping evacuation order to areas south of the Zahrani River, north of the Litani and around 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border, warning that it was targeting Hezbollah.
Israeli troops previously captured the castle in 1982 and held it until they withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.
The Beaufort fortress, perched high atop Lebanon’s rolling green hills and overlooking the Litani River, has been a strategic military asset for many armies over almost 1,000 years.
Built as a Crusader castle around the 12th century on top of previous fortifications, it has been used by the Crusaders, Saladin’s Jerusalem army, Mamlukes, Ottomans, the French mandate, the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Israeli military until 2000, when it was partially restored and opened to visitors.
The Crusaders named it Beaufort which is Old French for “beautiful fortress.” The 1982 capture of the castle from the Palestine Liberation Organization was a major victory for the Israeli military that was led at the time by Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, who later became Israel's prime minister.
At the time, the Israeli army pushed all the way north and occupied Beirut.
During the previous Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024, UNESCO gave enhanced protection to 34 cultural sites in Lebanon including Beaufort Castle to safeguard it from damage.
The castle is a few kilometers north of the Israel border and overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon and northern Israel. In Arabic, it is called Al-Shaqif castle, an old Syriac word referring to the formidable rocky area.
Source: Agence France Presse, Associated Press
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