From Crusaders to Hezbollah: the bloody history of Lebanon’s Beaufort castle
BEIRUT — It was the stronghold of the Crusaders in the Middle Ages, and later of the armies of Saladin who expelled the Crusaders.
Many others came over the centuries, including the Ottomans, the French, and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The latter used it to target mortars and Katyusha rockets into northern Israel in 1982 and thwart Israeli troops trying to dislodge them, calling it the “beast on the mountain”.
Now the war has once again come to the Lebanon stronghold of Beaufort. Over the weekend, Israel announced it had recaptured the outpost, built around 1137.
“Beaufort” comes from the Old French word “beau fort” or “bel fort”, meaning beautiful castle. In Arabic it is called Qalaat al-Shaqif or High Rock Fortress.
Israel’s capture of Beaufort, which sits atop a hill roughly 6,352 meters above sea level, gives it fire control views of key highways along the Litani River and areas extending into Israel and Syria. A dominant perch that turns the goal into a prize.
But observers say Israel’s capture of the fortress was more of a public relations triumph than a military victory.
From a tactical perspective, the fortress is unlikely to deter Hezbollah’s new attack drones, which rely on fiber-optic cables and are immune to jamming. This became clear on Monday when the Israeli army announced that one soldier was killed and three others were injured in a Hezbollah drone attack on an Israeli position near the Beaufort Ridge.
“Even if you pull back Hezbollah’s lines, soldiers will still be vulnerable to the systems they’re hit by,” said Nicholas Blanford, a Beirut-based Atlantic Council member and longtime Hezbollah expert.
Israel captured Beaufort in 1982 and held it during its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
And if the past is the beginning, any Israeli presence in Beaufort will become a favored target.
During the previous occupation, Israeli troops stationed at their outpost near Beaufort faced frequent attacks from militants who would eventually form Hezbollah; Constant anti-tank and mortar bombardment forced the soldiers into an underground existence in a fortified bunker.
The road leading to the castle was named “Bloody Road” due to the many bombs placed on it.
When Hezbollah and its allies forced Israel to withdraw from Lebanon in 2000, Israeli troops blew up the fortress before they left, reportedly in an attempt to reject Hezbollah’s public relations coup to place its own flag over the outpost.
The fortress represented a failed invasion that many saw as Israel’s Vietnam. However, Israeli leaders appear to be pursuing a strategy that views withdrawing from the region after Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, as a reprieve for the enemy. Israel currently occupies swaths of land in southern Lebanon, southern Syria and Gaza that it plans to use as a buffer zone.
“The return to Beaufort is an expression of the correction of old national sins and distorted perceptions,” said Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a right-wing member of the Israeli government who has long called for a tougher stance in Lebanon and other regions.
“I will continue to demand and encourage a lasting territorial understanding and exceptional military aggression.”
Analysts say it is unclear what a deeper strike into Lebanese territory, as in the 1982 war, could achieve. Blanford said Hezbollah fighters will not stop unless a deal is made to include the group.
“At the end of the day, invasions tend to end. Fundamentally, there is no military solution to Hezbollah’s weapons issue: The Israelis can occupy more of Lebanon and Hezbollah will still attack them,” Blanford said.
“A political solution is needed, but we will not see it anytime soon.”
