{"id":39817,"date":"2026-05-31T17:45:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T15:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/israel-captures-strategic-stronghold-in-lebanon-in-deepest-incursion-there-in-26-years\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T17:45:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T15:45:46","slug":"israel-captures-strategic-stronghold-in-lebanon-in-deepest-incursion-there-in-26-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/israel-captures-strategic-stronghold-in-lebanon-in-deepest-incursion-there-in-26-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel captures strategic stronghold in Lebanon, in deepest incursion there in 26 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Beaufort.jpg\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;margin-bottom:20px\"><\/p>\n<p>Israeli troops have taken control of Fort Beaufort, a 900-year-old fortress, as well as its surrounding strategic ridge in southern Lebanon, in a major advance against Hezbollah that took them across the Litani River, Israel&#8217;s deepest penetration into Lebanon in more than 26 years.<\/p>\n<p>After days of intense fighting and airstrikes in the surrounding countryside, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the army had taken the fort, also known as Qalaat al-Shakif, which the Israel Defense Forces had used as a base during its previous occupation of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000.<\/p>\n<p>Photos published by Katz and footage verified by the French news agency Agence France-Presse showed Israeli and Golani Brigade flags flying over Fort Beaufort as shelling was heard in surrounding hills.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, the army said it had &#8220;launched an operation in the Beaufort Ridge and Wadi al-Saluki area in southern Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah&#8217;s infrastructure and expand its control in this region&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The Israeli army added that its forces had crossed the Litani River and taken positions from which Hezbollah had directed attacks and fired rockets at Israel.<\/p>\n<p>The deadlocked negotiations between The US and Iran have created a diplomatic vacuum during which Israel has intensified its operations in Lebanon. Observers say Israeli officials and military commanders have sought to inflict as much damage as possible on Hezbollah before a possible deal between Tehran and Washington imposes new restrictions or ends the current offensive.<\/p>\n<p>A cease-fire to end fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah officially took effect on April 17, but has never been fully respected.<\/p>\n<p>Israel and Hezbollah have accuse each other almost daily of ceasefire violations and justify their attacks with allegations of violations by the other side.<\/p>\n<p>For many Lebanese, Nabatieh carries an importance that goes beyond its strategic value. Long regarded as a symbol of resistance, the city has repeatedly found itself on the front lines of Israeli military campaigns and remains deeply embedded in the political and historical memory of southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of &#8220;pursuing a policy of scorched earth and collective punishment&#8221; by &#8220;destroying towns and villages and forcing their inhabitants into exile&#8221; in southern Lebanon. the country.<\/p>\n<p>Salam has warned that the country is facing a &#8220;dangerous&#8221; escalation and called for &#8220;a quick and real ceasefire&#8221;.<\/p>\n<hr style=\"margin:30px 0\">\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#666\">Source: <strong>prizrenpost<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli troops have taken control of Fort Beaufort, a 900-year-old fortress, as well as its surrounding strategic ridge in southern Lebanon, in a major advance against Hezbollah that took them across the Litani River, Israel&#8217;s deepest penetration into Lebanon in more than 26 years. After days of intense fighting and airstrikes in the surrounding countryside, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[666],"class_list":["post-39817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-brief"],"views":10,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39819,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39817\/revisions\/39819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}