Israel Seizes a 900-Year-Old Castle.
Its Deepest Push Into Lebanon in 26 Years.
Overnight on Saturday, May 30 into Sunday, May 31, 2026, Israeli ground forces crossed the Litani River and seized the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle, perched on a ridge high above southern Lebanon. The Golani Brigade, fighting under the IDF’s 98th Division, raised the Israeli flag and the brigade’s own colors over the roughly 900-year-old fortress — the army’s deepest incursion into Lebanon in 26 years.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the operation “dramatic.” Defense Minister Israel Katz said troops would remain at the site as part of a restored security zone in south Lebanon. One Israeli soldier was killed by a Hezbollah explosive drone the day before the castle fell; four others were lightly wounded.
The capture lands six weeks after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that, on paper, is still in force. Lebanon’s government condemned the move as a “scorched-earth policy.” France called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. The fighting, reignited in March, has now killed more than 3,300 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanese health authorities, and displaced well over a million.
- 26 yrsdeepestIsrael's deepest ground incursion into Lebanon since 2000 — BBC, AP
- 717melevationthe Beaufort Ridge fortress's commanding height over the Litani valley — France 24
- 1.2M+displacedpeople forced from southern Lebanon since the war reignited (per Lebanese authorities)
- 45-dayceasefirea U.S.-brokered truce, extended May 15, now eroding into near-daily fire
The Israel Defense Forces announced on the morning of Sunday, May 31, 2026, that troops had captured Beaufort Castle — known in Arabic as Qal’at al-Shaqif, or Shaqif Arnoun — on the Beaufort Ridge in the Nabatieh Governorate of southern Lebanon. The fortress sits roughly 717 meters above sea level, about a kilometer south-southeast of the village of Arnoun and some 14 kilometers from the Israeli border. To reach it, soldiers crossed the Litani River— the line that has served for decades as a notional boundary for how far Israeli forces would advance.
The assault was led by the Golani Brigade, operating under the IDF’s 98th Division. Footage released by the military showed soldiers raising the Israeli flag and the brigade’s flag over the ancient walls. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamiroversaw the operation. It marked the army’s deepest penetration into Lebanese territory since its withdrawal from the country in 2000.
“We returned to Beaufort stronger than ever. Our brave fighters captured the Beaufort outpost. They proudly raised the flag of the State of Israel and the flag of the Golani Brigade.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu · May 31, 2026
Forty-four years after the heroic Battle of Beaufort, IDF soldiers, led by the Golani Brigade, returned to the summit of Beaufort and once again raised the Israeli flag.
Beaufort is one of the great surviving Crusader fortresses of the Levant. Construction is generally dated to around 1139, and the name itself — from the French beau fort, “beautiful fortress” — reflects the commanding position the Crusaders prized. Its perch on a sheer cliff above the Litani gave whoever held it a sweeping view across the surrounding valleys and the approaches from the south. That same geography is why armies have fought over it for the better part of a thousand years.
In the modern era the castle’s strategic value never faded. From 1976 to 1982, the Palestine Liberation Organization held the site and used its elevation to shell communities in Israel’s northern Galilee — a fact that made Beaufort a priority target when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982. After that war the IDF occupied it; it held the position until the 2000 withdrawal.
The castle is also a protected heritage monument. In late 2024, UNESCO granted Beaufort “provisional enhanced protection” under the 1954 Hague Convention on cultural property in armed conflict. Israeli strikes during the current fighting nonetheless damaged the site, drawing a formal protest from Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh, who said the bombing harmed an irreplaceable part of Lebanon’s cultural patrimony.
IDF troops crossed the Litani River and captured the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon, securing the high ground long held by Hezbollah. Forces continue to operate against terror infrastructure in the area.
The reference in Israel Katz’s statement — “forty-four years after the heroic Battle of Beaufort” — points to one of the most storied and contested engagements in IDF history. On June 6–7, 1982, at the start of the first Lebanon war, Golani Brigade commandos stormed the PLO-held fortress in close, nighttime fighting. Six Israeli soldiers were killed taking it, among them the assault commander, Maj. Giora “Goni” Harnik, who became a national figure in the aftermath.
The battle also produced one of the more infamous episodes of that war’s politics. Defense Minister Ariel Sharoninitially told the public the castle had been taken without casualties — a claim that proved false. When Prime Minister Menachem Beginvisited the site shortly afterward, apparently unaware that men had died in the assault, he was filmed asking the surviving soldiers whether the enemy had used “machine guns,” a moment that became a symbol of the gap between the leadership and the troops it sent in.
- →c. 1139 — Crusader fortress built; named 'beau fort,' the beautiful fortress
- →1976–1982 — Held by the PLO, which used its height to shell northern Israel
- →June 6–7, 1982 — Golani Brigade storms the castle; 6 Israelis killed, including Maj. Giora 'Goni' Harnik
- →1982–2000 — Occupied by the IDF during its presence in southern Lebanon
- →May 23–24, 2000 — IDF detonates the modern military compound during Ehud Barak's withdrawal
- →May 31, 2026 — Golani Brigade captures Beaufort again; deepest incursion in 26 years
The capture of Beaufort is the latest escalation in a war that flared back to life in early 2026. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah reignited on March 2, 2026; Israeli ground operations followed on March 16. A U.S.-brokered truce — announced by President Donald Trump— took hold on April 16, and was extended by 45 days on May 15. On paper, that ceasefire remains in force. On the ground, it has steadily eroded into documented strikes and near-daily exchanges of fire.
A central complication is that Hezbollah is not a party to the truce. The group, now led by Secretary-General Naim Qassem— who succeeded Hassan Nasrallah after Nasrallah was killed — has rejected the talks outright. Israeli forces crossed the Litani on May 29, two days before the castle fell. In the 24 hours surrounding the operation, the IDF issued more than ten evacuation orders for southern Lebanese towns; military Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee directed residents south of the Zahrani River to move north.
Defense Minister Katz framed the seizure not as a raid but as a foothold. Troops, he said, would remain at Beaufort as part of a restored security zonein southern Lebanon — language that echoes the buffer Israel maintained in the region for nearly two decades before 2000. Lebanon’s government reads that intention as the start of a renewed open-ended occupation.
- →1 Israeli soldier killed by a Hezbollah explosive drone on May 30; 4 lightly wounded
- →~25–26 IDF soldiers killed in Lebanon since the fighting reignited March 2, 2026
- →3,371+ people killed in Lebanon war-wide, per Lebanese health authorities
- →10,129 injured, per Lebanese health authorities
- →More than 1.2 million people displaced from southern Lebanon
- →Israel says it has killed roughly 2,500 Hezbollah fighters (Israeli figure)
Lebanese leaders responded with some of their sharpest language of the war. Prime Minister Nawaf Salamaccused Israel of pursuing a “scorched-earth policy” and inflicting “collective punishment” on the civilians of the south. President Joseph Aoun, who has spent months trying to assert state authority over the contested border region, faced renewed questions about whether the Lebanese army can do anything to halt the advance.
“Israel is pursuing a scorched-earth policy and inflicting collective punishment on southern Lebanon.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam · May 31, 2026
France moved fastest among Western governments. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council and condemned the operation in unusually direct terms, rejecting the idea that any security rationale could justify what he called an ever-deeper occupation of Lebanese land.
“Nothing can justify the continuation of Israeli military operations in Lebanon and its ever deeper occupation of Lebanese territory.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot · May 31, 2026
The escalation also put a spotlight on Washington, whose ceasefire it appeared to contradict. When President Trump brokered the truce in April, he was emphatic about what it required of Israel — a position now in visible tension with the events of late May.
Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!
Trump in April, as he brokered the ceasefire — six weeks before the May 31 castle seizure.
Israeli forces capture the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, marking the deepest ground incursion into the country in 26 years as displacement orders spread across the south.
By capturing Beaufort Castle, Israel has taken its highest-profile and deepest piece of Lebanese ground since 2000, planting its flag on a fortress that has changed hands for nearly nine centuries. Defense Minister Katz says the troops are staying, framing the site as the anchor of a restored security zone — a signal that this was a foothold, not a raid.
It happened under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that is, formally, still alive — and that a non-signatory Hezbollah continues to reject. With Lebanon’s prime minister charging collective punishment, France demanding an emergency Security Council session, and casualty figures from Lebanese health authorities climbing past 3,300 dead and 1.2 million displaced, the question now is whether the truce survives the symbol on top of the hill.
