Why Israel's Beaufort Castle seizure is historically and strategically significant

Israel has captured an 889-year-old castle in southern Lebanon in a mountainous military siege that marked Israeli forces' deepest incursion into the country in 26 years.

The operation at Beaufort Castle, also known locally by its Arabic name Qal'at al-Shaqif, occurred within 10 kilometres of the Israeli border and near the city of Nabatiyeh.

It came after days of fighting and air strikes in nearby villages where Israeli troops fought members of terror organisation Hezbollah.

The castle's seizure represents a major gain for Israel in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, which began in early March.

The strategic advance was also conducted amid a nominal ceasefire that has been in place since April 17 and ahead of planned peace talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington DC this week.

Here is what is known about Beaufort Castle and why Israel set its sights on its capture.

Strategic fortress atop a mountain

Lebanon's Qal'at al-Shaqif was first built around the year 1137 but has since been expanded, modified and rebuilt by ruling groups through history such as the Ayyubids and the Mamluks, according to UNESCO.

It "commands a strategic position, dominating a landscape that extends across the territories of Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine," the UN agency says.

Built as a Crusader castle on top of previous fortifications, it has also been used by Saladin's Jerusalem army, the Ottomans, the French mandate and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

The Crusaders named it Beaufort, which is Old French for "beautiful fortress".

In 1982 it was held as a strategic stronghold for the PLO and became the centre of a war that Israel still credits as a military achievement in Lebanon, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

During the Israel-Lebanon war, also known by Israeli forces as the "Operation Peace for Galilee", Israel drove the PLO out of the country and advanced north to attack parts of Beirut, led by then-defence minister and future prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Israel occupied Beaufort Castle for another 18 years.

In 2000, Israeli forces withdrew from the site and it was later opened to visitors before a large-scale conservation project began to repair and restore it after the significant damage it sustained during the fighting.

In the wake of Israel's renewed fighting in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered Israeli troops to move further into the country and described the castle as "a symbol of a heroic battle for our fighters" but also "a symbol of deep division between us".

How Israel recaptured Beaufort Castle

As the sun set over the Litani River, IDF soldiers were monitored from above while running in single file down sets of stairs that snaked along the mountainous ridge Beaufort Castle sits atop.

Heavily armed in combat gear with helmets, rifles, ladders and night vision goggles, the IDF's Golani Brigade — known by its distinctive olive tree insignia visible on soldiers' arm patches and the squad's flag — stormed the fortress without opposition.

The brigade played a central role in Israel's first seizure of the castle in 1982 and on Sunday, local time, it took control of it once again, according to Defense Minister Israel Katz.

"At the direction of Prime Minister Netanyahu and at my direction, the IDF expanded the maneuver in Lebanon, crossed the Litani River, and captured the Beaufort ridge — one of the most important strategic points for defending the settlements of the Galilee and safeguarding the security of our forces," he said in a statement posted to X.

Once the soldiers secured the castle the flags of both Israel and the Golani Brigade were hoisted above the fortress.

The operation sought to establish control of the ridge and the Wadi al-Saluki area, while degrading the Hezbollah militia and its infrastructure on the ridge established under Iranian direction, the IDF said.

A single Israeli soldier was killed during the operation, the IDF said.

The advance grants Israeli troops an overlook point over much of northern Israel and southern Lebanon, the latter from which attacks have been launched towards Israeli residential areas.

Fallout looms after expanded invasion

Israel has previously cited the Litani River as a de facto boundary amid its conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It has designated the area from the river up to the Zahrani River a combat zone and issued recommendations for residents to evacuate.

The IDF has a presence about five kilometres from Nabatiyeh, a major centre in southern Lebanon, and called on residents there and in the nearby coastal city of Tyre to leave.

Israel has long considered Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim armed group that emerged in 1982, as an unacceptable threat.

In the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the conflict in Gaza that followed, Hezbollah targeted communities in northern Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian terror organisation.

After a makeshift ceasefire was brokered between Israel and Hezbollah in 2024, the IDF withdrew from parts of southern Lebanon except for five strategic hilltops along the border.

But Israel continued to claim the group was rearming and rebuilding.

On March 2, Hezbollah again fired at Israel, prompting Israel to re-invade southern Lebanon.

On Saturday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Israel was trying to "uproot Lebanon's memory and erase the people's history".

In the aftermath of the Beaufort Castle capture, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss Israel's military operations, which he described as "unacceptable".

"Nothing can justify the prolongation of Israeli military operations in Lebanon and its increasingly deep occupation of Lebanese territory," Mr Barrot said on Sunday on French television BFM TV.

Diplomats said the council meeting might take place on Monday, local time, The Associated Press reported.

On Friday the first direct military talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials in decades occurred.

Those talks are expected to continue this week in Washington DC, but Hezbollah is not taking part and has said it would not accept any of its results.