DayofPal—The Israeli army has pushed deeper into southern Lebanon, capturing the strategic Beaufort Castle near the city of Nabatiyeh, following days of intense airstrikes in the area.
The capture came after issuing three displacement orders on Saturday for residents of 13 villages and killing more civilians.
Israeli war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that Israeli forces had advanced beyond the Litani River, which runs around 30km north of the Lebanon-Israel border.
“Our forces have crossed the Litani and advanced to controlling positions,” he said.
More than 1 million people have been displaced by Israel’s assault in Lebanon, which has flattened entire towns, caused extensive damage to infrastructure and worsened the humanitarian situation.
Israel has continued heavy bombardment of southern and eastern Lebanon despite a ceasefire that has nominally been in place since 17 April.
The army said this week that it had expanded ground operations beyond a security zone encompassing dozens of Lebanese villages already occupied by its troops.
Since the start of the assault, 3,371 people have been killed and 10,129 wounded in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, adding 16 were killed and 34 wounded in the past 24 hours.
Israeli forces have also captured a strategic mountain topped with a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon, the military said Sunday.
The occupation of Beaufort castle near the city of Nabatiyeh came after days of intense airstrikes. It is known in Arabic as Qalaat Al-Shaqif. The site was used as a military base by Israeli forces during their two-decade occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000.
The Israeli army’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted a photograph on X showing Israeli troops walking outside the castle, and Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X that they had raised an Israeli flag over the castle.
Israeli troops have been advancing for days in villages close to Beaufort castle after crossing the Litani River, which the Israeli military previously used as a de facto boundary.
They are now about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the city of Nabatiyeh, a major center in southern Lebanon, and have called on all its residents to leave, as well as the residents of the coastal city of Tyre, the country’s fourth largest city, and its surroundings.
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