By Nana Karikari, Senior Global Affairs Correspondent
Israeli forces have captured a strategic medieval fortress across the Litani River in southern Lebanon, marking the military’s deepest incursion into the country in 26 years. The seizure of Beaufort Ridge and its historic Crusader-era castle has triggered a major escalation, raising international alarms over a potential long-term occupation and threatening fragile, U.S.-brokered regional peace negotiations.
The advance comes despite hopes of a U.S.-brokered plan discussed by Israeli and Lebanese officials in Washington. Clashes continue despite a nominal, month-old ceasefire agreement that both Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah have accused each other of violating. Confrontations have intensified since March 2, when Hezbollah fired at Israel following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In response to the escalation, Israeli forces began striking and destroying bridges over the Litani River. The Israeli military stated these bridges were being used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons and move fighters.
A Dramatic Shift in Strategy
The capture of Beaufort Castle, located roughly nine miles from the Israeli border near the city of Nabatiyeh, gives the Israel Defense Forces a commanding vantage point over southern Lebanon. The fortress sits 15 to 20 miles north of Israel’s border along a high cliff overlooking the river. The site has long held deep symbolic and military significance, having been occupied by Israel during its 18-year presence in Lebanon before its withdrawal in 2000. The current push follows days of air raids, intense bombardment reported by the Lebanese state news agency NNA, and a clash where cells belonging to Hezbollah claimed to have destroyed an Israeli tank.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the operation on Sunday, framing it as a turning point in the conflict.
“Our heroic fighters captured the Beaufort outpost,” Netanyahu said. “They proudly raised the flag of the State of Israel and the flag of the Golani Brigade there.”
The Prime Minister indicated that the military footprint would continue to grow beyond the Litani River, which has served as a de facto boundary since the early days of the ground war.
“My instruction is to deepen and expand our grip on the places that were under Hezbollah’s control,” Netanyahu said. “The occupation of Beaufort is a dramatic stage and a dramatic change in the policy that we are leading.”
Netanyahu later added that Israel has “broken the barrier of fear” and is “operating on all fronts—in Syria, in Gaza, in Lebanon.” The IDF stated that a significant number of ground soldiers are actively expanding offensive operations to target Hezbollah infrastructure on Beaufort Ridge and the nearby Wadi al-Saluki area to establish a new Forward Defense Line.
Security Zone and Political Repercussions
Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that the deployment to the historic ridge would not be temporary. In a speech on Sunday, Katz noted that the Israeli flag was “once again flying over the peaks overlooking the communities of the Galilee,” declaring that the soldiers who captured the height “will remain there as part of the security zone in Lebanon.”
“The campaign is not yet over,” Katz added on X, emphasizing Israel’s determination to “crush” Hezbollah infrastructure. The operational shift follows significant domestic strain inside Israel. On Saturday, Hezbollah fired roughly 25 projectiles toward northern border communities, prompting opposition politicians to demand harsher security measures as local schools were forced to close.
The military push has energized ultranationalist elements within Netanyahu’s governing coalition, who are openly calling for a permanent realignment of Israel’s northern border. Fears of a long-term footprint have grown since a March editorial in The Jerusalem Post cited Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, who identified the Litani River as a natural northern border for the state. On Sunday, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel
Smotrich posted on X that the seizure of Beaufort Ridge was “correcting old national sins,” while renewing calls for a lasting occupation of the territory. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir went further on Saturday, pressing Netanyahu to “flatten” parts of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
However, regional experts warn that deep incursions could trap Israel in an exhausting, long-term conflict. Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, noted that while Israel could occupy a “massive swath” of territory, it risks a “forever war.”
Israel will “never have either stability or security, regardless of how large its self-declared security zone is,” Gerges said. “Hezbollah will continue to harass and to attack not only the Israeli forces inside Lebanon, but also Israeli settlements, in order to show Israel that even though it has the military capability, it won’t have the security that the government has promised.”
Humanitarian Toll and Cultural Damage
The humanitarian cost of the expanded offensive continues to mount. The Lebanese Health Ministry reported that Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,350 people since March. Over the same period, Israel has reported the deaths of 25 soldiers and two civilians in or near southern Lebanon, along with two civilians killed in northern Israel.
On Friday, the IDF launched heavy strikes on Tyre, Lebanon’s fourth-largest city, which local authorities said killed at least 14 people. On Sunday, Lebanese health officials reported that 13 hospital staff were injured during an airstrike that caused extensive damage near Hiram Hospital in Tyre.
The IDF has repeatedly expanded its evacuation zones, ordering all residents south of the Zahrani River to flee. A military spokesman warned that “anyone present near Hezbollah elements, facilities or means of combat endangers their life.” The orders have compounded a massive displacement crisis that has driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam sharply condemned the military campaign in a televised address, accusing Israel of a “scorched-earth policy” and stating that “nothing can justify” the attacks.
Salam said the ongoing bombardment and widespread displacement orders “amount to collective punishment, condemned by all international norms and laws.”
The fighting has also endangered ancient cultural heritage. Three days prior to the capture, the local Arnoun Municipality issued an urgent plea to international organizations to protect the area. The United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, had granted provisional enhanced protection to Beaufort Castle—the highest legal immunity against military use or attack—describing it “as one of the best-preserved examples of medieval castles in the Near East.”
On Friday, UNESCO stated it was “deeply alarmed” by strikes near the monument, reiterating that such sites must receive the “highest level of legal protection.”
Complications for Global Diplomacy
The escalation on the ground complicates delicate diplomatic maneuvers involving the United States, Lebanon, and Iran. While a fourth round of bilateral talks between Israeli and Lebanese delegations is scheduled in Washington this week, Lebanese leaders remain secondary players to the broader conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Concurrently, U.S. and Iranian negotiators have been attempting to finalize a broader truce linked to their own ongoing conflict. Tehran has maintained that any diplomatic understanding with Washington is contingent upon an immediate end to the war in Lebanon.
A senior Arab official involved in mediating the talks told NBC News that American and Iranian negotiators had reached a tentative agreement days ago in Qatar, but domestic political calculations have stalled the announcement.
“It was already closed in Doha three days ago; now everyone is playing a game of chicken and egg,” the official said, calling the administrative delays “frustrating.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated Saturday that President Donald Trump was remaining “patient” and sought a “great deal” to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. An Israeli official also noted that President Trump recently told Netanyahu he supported Israel’s “freedom of action against threats on all fronts, including Lebanon.”
Diplomatic observers worry that Israel’s deeper push across the Litani River could dismantle those diplomatic channels entirely. Gerges warned that the offensive threatens to “undermine and torpedo any kind of deal between the U.S. and Iran.”
“Unless President Trump intervenes and exerts pressure on Netanyahu, I doubt it very much whether the Iranian side will sign into any kind of a deal with the United States,” Gerges said.
International opposition to the expanded campaign is growing. France, which maintains deep historical ties to Lebanon, has formally requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told the French network BFMTV that the situation was a “major mistake for Israel,” adding that “nothing can justify the prolongation of [Israel’s] military operations in Lebanon and its increasingly deep occupation of Lebanese territory.”
As Israeli flags wave over the ancient stones of Beaufort Castle and troops push past the historical boundary of the Litani River, the conflict stands at an unpredictable crossroads. For Israel, the deep territorial push is framed as an essential, proactive measure to neutralize years of rocket fire and secure its northern borders. For Lebanon and its international allies, the advance represents an unlawful expansion that threatens to displace millions more and permanently destabilize the Levant. With high-level talks hanging in the balance from Washington to Doha, the coming days will determine whether this deep incursion yields a stronger leverage point for peace, or triggers a permanent regional war.
