The Israeli military has captured Lebanon’s Beaufort Castle, a medieval hilltop fortress in the country’s south, amid an expanded military offensive against the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

The capture, announced on Sunday, comes amid fighting despite a “ceasefire” between Israel and Lebanon, which Israel has repeatedly violated.

“The Israeli flag is once again flying over the peaks overlooking the Galilee communities,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said at a memorial ceremony for fallen soldiers of the 1982 war with Lebanon, according to The Times of Israel newspaper.

“Our heroic soldiers have captured Beaufort once again and will remain there as part of the security zone in Lebanon,” he was quoted as saying.

Katz circulated a photo on social media of the castle with the Israeli flag and also that of the military’s Golani Brigade.

So what is Beaufort Castle, how did Israel capture it and why does it matter?

What is Beaufort Castle?

Beaufort Castle, known in Arabic as Qalaat al-Shaqif, is a 900-year-old fortress located on a rocky hilltop in southern Lebanon, about 700 metres (2,300ft) above sea level. Built during the 12th century by Crusaders, the castle overlooks the Litani River.

The Crusaders named the castle Beaufort, which means “beautiful fortress” in Old French.

Over the centuries, the fortress has changed hands multiple times, passing from Crusader rulers to various regional powers, including the Ottoman Empire. Historically, its elevated position made it one of the most important defensive strongholds in the region, allowing whoever controlled it to monitor movement across a large area of southern Lebanon.

In more recent years, Palestinian fighters used the site as a base before Israel captured it during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Israeli forces then occupied the castle as part of their security zone in southern Lebanon until withdrawing from the area in 2000.

What is the strategic significance of Beaufort Castle?

Sitting atop a strategic hill near Nabatieh, Lebanon’s fifth largest city, Beaufort Castle and the surrounding ridge, which Israeli forces have also secured, is regarded as one of southern Lebanon’s most strategically important military positions.

The capture of the castle offers Israeli troops an observation point over a large part of southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

Israeli officials said the operation was aimed at dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure and securing high ground close to the Israeli border.

Al Jazeera’s Obaida Hitto, reporting from Tyre in southern Lebanon, said the capture of the castle gives the Israeli forces “a significant tactical advantage against Hezbollah”.

“It overlooks all of the towns and villages that are around the city of Nabatieh. It also looks over the western Bekaa Valley, all the way into the occupied Golan Heights and into northern Galilee,” he reported.

“People here are extremely concerned that this operation is going to expand even more because of the vantage point that the Israelis now have.”

What is happening in southern Lebanon now?

According to the latest figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, more than 3,412 people have been killed and 10,269 wounded in Israeli attacks on the country since March 2.

Israeli forces captured Beaufort Castle after days of fighting and air strikes in villages surrounding the fortress. Troops advanced through the rugged terrain near Nabatieh, where clashes with Hezbollah fighters had been taking place.

Israeli forces killed at least 12 people and wounded 35 in more than 36 attacks across southern Lebanon on Sunday alone, according to an Al Jazeera tally.

Israel has already occupied large swaths of southern Lebanon since fighting escalated after the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28. Israeli forces now occupy about 2,000sq km (770sq miles) of Lebanese territory – nearly one-fifth of the country.

Iran-backed Hezbollah entered the war by launching rockets, missiles and drones towards a missile defence site near Haifa in northern Israel on March 2 in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the war’s first strike on Tehran.

Until then, the Iran-backed group had not attacked Israel since a November 2024 ceasefire was announced, despite near-daily breaches of the agreement by Israel.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an even deeper military operation into Lebanon, marking Israel’s farthest invasion into its northern neighbour in more than a quarter of a century.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said he again “instructed the Israeli military to expand the manoeuvre in Lebanon”.

“Now my instruction is to deepen and expand our grip on the places that were under Hezbollah’s control,” he said during a visit to the front lines.

On Monday, Israel issued a forced displacement order to residents of seven villages in southern Lebanon, including Houmine al-Faouqa, Bnaafoul, Arab Salim, Roumine, Aazze, Arkey and Jbaa.

The army’s Arabic language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, announced in a post on X that residents must move away immediately from the affected area by 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) as Israel plans to attack.