Israel’s military has seized control of a strategically important castle in Lebanon, advancing deeper into the country’s territory than it has in more than 25 years.
The capture of Beaufort Castle in Nabatieh marks yet another violation of a so-called ceasefire made between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah in April. Israel now illegally occupies 770 square miles of Lebanon, almost a fifth of the entire country.
The IDF has claimed that one of its objectives is to remove Hezbollah fighters from the area south of Lebanon’s Litani river in order to create what it characterises as a ‘buffer zone’ to protect it Israel’s northern border. But it is now seizing land in areas several miles north of the river.
Nabatieh is a Hezbollah stronghold and a political and economic hub of Lebanon’s Shia community. The IDF ordered the forced displacement of the city’s population last week.
Israel’s repeated ceasefire violations come as it tries to sabotage peace talks between the US and Iran. The Iranian government has said Israel must withdraw from southern Lebanon if there is to be any progress in its talks with the Trump administration.
Lebanon was supposed to be included in an initial ceasefire deal between the US, Israel and Iran on 8 April, but Israel continued to attack its neighbouring country. Israel agreed to a separate ceasefire with Lebanon on 16 April but immediately violated it by shelling several villages.
In recent months, the IDF has been systematically demolishing villages and massacring civilians, including paramedics and journalists. It has also attacked water infrastructure – in what Oxfam says is an echo of a genocidal tactic used in Gaza – and unlawfully used white phosphorus against civilians.
During a huge wave of attacks that killed hundreds of civilians on 8 April, the UK flew an armed surveillance drone near the site of one of the massacres.
Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said in April that Israel intends to expand its territory into Lebanon, Syria and Palestine.
“There will be a political component in Lebanon that will extend our borders to the Litani River within defensible lines,” he said.
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