BEIRUT, LEBANON — Israeli forces have captured a medieval castle in southern Lebanon which dates back to the Crusader era and raised their flag on the strategic mountaintop, part of Israel's deepest military push into Lebanon in 26 years. Video showed the Israeli flag fluttering from atop the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle while black smoke billowed from the nearby town of Arnoun. The rapidly expanding Israeli operation, including a swathe of destroyed villages, suggests Israeli forces are planning an extended presence in the region. Israel previously held the castle during an 18-year-old long military occupation that ended in 2000.
A quarter-century later the Israelis are still fighting Hezbollah, the militant group backed strikes — while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to "crush" Hezbollah — despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that is officially still in place. The fighting threatens to complicate, or even undermine, the U.S.-Iran efforts to end the war in Iran. Iran says any agreement must also include an end to the conflict in Lebanon. "Our brave soldiers have captured the Beaufort once again — and they will remain there as part of the security zone in Lebanon," Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the invasion. "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 in an address to the nation Saturday. Israeli attacks and demolitions have leveled entire villages in southern Lebanon and have now displaced more than 1.2 million people. The Lebanese ministry of public health says more than 3,300 people have been killed, about 20 percent of them women, children and first responders.
Israel says two civilians and 23 soldiers plus a military contractor have been killed in Hezbollah attacks. Almost all the soldiers were killed inside Lebanon. Salam in his speech demanded an immediate ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal. While making clear that there was no guarantee that talks would succeed, he said negotiation was the path to preventing more harm to Lebanon and its people.
Israeli and Lebanese officials have been meeting in Washington even though the two countries have been officially in a state of war for decades. The Lebanese government has agreed that Hezbollah should be disarmed and replaced with national army forces but it does not have the means to do so. Hezbollah has made clear that it will not disarm while Lebanon is under attack. The Beaufort Castle was built during the Crusader era in the 12th-century and is an iconic historical site described "as one of the best-preserved examples of medieval castles in the Near East." The stone castle, set on a hilltop, offers a commanding view of southern Lebanon and northern Israel and has been the scene of repeated modern-day battles in recent decades.