Israel seizes strategic castle in deepest incursion into Lebanon in 26 years

Israeli ground forces conducting a military operation in the Beaufort Ridge, southern Lebanon. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen Israeli ground forces conducting a military operation in the Beaufort Ridge, southern Lebanon. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock Israel seizes strategic castle in deepest incursion into Lebanon in 26 years Experts say capture is largely symbolic, but it complicates efforts to extend the ceasefire between US and Iran Israeli troops have captured a clifftop castle as they made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than 26 years, further shattering a nominal US-brokered ceasefire and complicating efforts to extend the separate truce between Washington and Tehran. After days of intense fighting and airstrikes in nearby villages, the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said the military had captured Beaufort Castle, also known as Qalaat al-Shaqif, which it had used as a base during its previous occupation of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) already controlled territory up to the Litani River in its campaign against Hezbollah , but troops are now pushing towards the Zahrani River, about six miles north. The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, requested an emergency meeting of the UN security council on Monday to discuss Israel’s military operations in Lebanon, which he described as unacceptable. “Nothing can justify the prolongation of Israeli military operations in Lebanon and its increasingly deep occupation of Lebanese territory,” he said. Images and footage showed Israeli and Golani Brigade flags flying over Beaufort Castle , which overlooks much of southern Lebanon, giving it strategic importance, as shelling echoed across the surrounding hills and plumes of smoke rose from the area. Map of the so-called ‘yellow zone’ in Lebanon The IDF said it had “launched an operation in the Beaufort Ridge and Wadi al-Saluki area of southern Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure and expand its control of the area”. Israeli forces appear to be positioning themselves for a potential encirclement of Nabatieh, a city that serves as an economic centre and a cultural heartland for southern Lebanon. Prof Yagil Levy, the head of the Institute for the Study of Civil-Military Relations at the Open University of Israel, described the latest advance as no more than “victory of image”. “There was already debate in 1982 over how necessary the capture of Beaufort really was,” he said. “It attempts to present an accomplishment within a public discourse that increasingly assumes that Israel is not winning. “Protests are growing in the northern communities, criticism is emerging from within the military over soldiers’ vulnerability to drone attacks, Hezbollah remains intact, and there is no realistic plan for its disarmament.” The advance also poses a challenge to stalled negotiations between the US and Iran, as Tehran wants any deal to include the end of fighting in L