Israeli forces have captured Beaufort Castle, the ancient Crusader fortress that dominates the ridge above the Litani River in southern Lebanon, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders IDF troops to expand operations into northern Lebanon.
Taking Beaufort Castle is Israel's deepest ground incursion into Lebanese territory in 26 years. Netanyahu immediately ordered troops to push further north and declared it "a dramatic change in the policy we are leading."
Israel has widened its Lebanon combat zone, ignoring a ceasefire deal and ordered residents to evacuate if it tries to set up a buffer zone on its northern border.
The IDF said it launched a ground operation in the Beaufort Ridge and Wadi al-Saluki stream area to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure and eliminate fighters, "as part of strengthening operational control in southern Lebanon and removing the direct threat to the Galilee Panhandle and Metula," as well as to "expand the forward defence line." One Israeli soldier was killed during the operation.
Defence Minister Israel Katz announced the capture of Beaufort on social media, posting a photograph of Israeli and Golani Brigade flags flying over the ruined medieval battlements.
"Under the guidance of Prime Minister Netanyahu and my direction, the IDF expanded its manoeuvre in Lebanon, crossed the Litani River and captured the Beaufort Ridge, one of the most important strategic points for the protection of our settlements in Galilee and the safety of our troops," he wrote.
He noted that the operation came 44 years after Israel first seized Beaufort during Operation Peace for Galilee in 1982.
"This is a clear message to our enemies: those who threaten Israeli citizens will lose their strategic assets one by one," he added. "The campaign is not yet over. The IDF is strong, and we are all determined to crush Hezbollah's power and complete the mission."
Netanyahu, releasing a video statement in front of an IDF photograph of the castle, said: "The capture of Beaufort is a dramatic stage and a dramatic shift in the policy we are leading. Now my directive is to deepen and expand our hold on areas that had been under Hezbollah's control." He added: "We returned to Beaufort stronger than ever."
Historically strategic castle
Beaufort Castle, described by UNESCO as one of the best-preserved examples of medieval castles in the Near East, sits on a steep cliff overlooking southern Lebanon and northern Israel, giving it long-standing strategic value for observation and control of surrounding valleys and movement routes.
Built by Crusaders around 1139, the fortress passed through many hands over nine centuries before the Palestine Liberation Organisation established a presence there in the 1970s and used it to shell northern Israel. Israel seized it in 1982, held it as a forward operating base for 18 years, and withdrew in 2000 under sustained Hezbollah pressure — a retreat that became one of the most contested episodes in Israeli military history.
Hezbollah established the ridge as a significant military asset after Israel's 2000 withdrawal, with the IDF saying "hundreds of projectiles were launched toward Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers" from the Beaufort area. The operation was focused on dismantling that infrastructure, established under Iranian direction.
"Our soldiers are writing a new chapter... by planting their flag at Beaufort Castle," the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman said.
Israeli military analysts were careful to separate the symbolic from the operational significance of the capture. Commentators assessing the move praised the achievement but added the caveat that it was a tactical rather than strategic advance. That reservation reflects Hezbollah's doctrine — articulated by its current leader Naim Qassem even before the October 7 terror attacks on Israel — that the organisation relies on diverse fire capabilities at every range and from deep inside Lebanon, meaning that even if the IDF reached Beirut, Hezbollah could continue firing at the Israeli home front. Under that doctrine, the loss of a strategic ridge does not end the group's capacity to fight or its willingness to retaliate.
The wider operation
The Beaufort capture is part of a broader Israeli advance north of the Litani River that began earlier this week. Soldiers crossed the Litani River's 90-degree bend, just across from the border community of Metula, and advanced toward the castle. Israeli troops were also operating near Nabatieh, a major Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon. The operations come despite the ceasefire formally announced on April 17 — which has been repeatedly violated by both sides — and despite a 45-day ceasefire extension agreed on May 17.
Hezbollah responded to the May 30 advance with one of its heaviest barrages on Israel since the April ceasefire, prompting school closures across northern Israel and driving the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya to move operations underground. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the escalation as "dangerous and unprecedented," calling for an immediate ceasefire and accusing Israel of a scorched-earth policy.
The next round of US-mediated Pentagon talks between Israeli and Lebanese military delegations is scheduled for June 2-3 — a diplomatic track that is now operating in the shadow of Israeli forces planting flags on a medieval hilltop fortress for the second time in four decades.
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