An Israeli flag on Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, May 31, 2026. (Credit: Stringer/Reuters)
BEIRUT — The Israeli army announced Sunday that it had captured the medieval Beaufort Castle, a day after reported clashes with Hezbollah around the fortress, which overlooks the Litani River and the eastern part of the Nabatieh district.
In a post on X, the Israeli military claimed it seized the site in Arnoun following a "large-scale operation" in the Beaufort heights and the Wadi Slouki area, a key corridor linking several parts of southern Lebanon.
The army published photos showing Israeli soldiers inside the fortress and the Israeli flag flying above it. It said the operation lasted several days and involved multiple brigades, including Golani and Givati.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also announced the capture of Beaufort. "Forty-four years after the heroic Battle of Beaufort, and on this day commemorating the soldiers who fell in the First Lebanon War (1982), our troops have returned to the summit of Beaufort and once again raised the Israeli flag there," Katz wrote on his Telegram channel.
AFP footage filmed Sunday morning showed the Israeli flag flying above the citadel, while Israeli attacks echoed across the area and smoke rose from the surrounding hills.
The fortress, also known as Qalaat al-Shaqif, described by UNESCO as "one of the best-preserved Crusader-era fortresses in the Near East," commands sweeping views across southern Lebanon, giving it significant strategic value. Israeli forces used the site as a military base during their occupation of southern Lebanon, which lasted nearly two decades before ending in 2000.
