ADLOUN, Lebanon (AP) — Israel’s air force and artillery struck areas close to a strategic mountain housing a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon Saturday as fighting raged in villages close to the southern city of Nabatieh.Israel’s military issued evacuation warnings for more than a dozen villages in southern Lebanon, a day after Lebanese and Israeli military officials held their first direct talks in decades at the Pentagon.The situation in southern Lebanon was discussed during a meeting Saturday between Lebanon’s president and prime minister who said in a statement later that they will intensify their contacts to make Israel stop demolition and bulldozing of homes and historical sites as well as its evacuation warnings.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling near the Crusader-built Beaufort castle that is about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Israeli border and overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon. The strategic castle was held by Israeli troops for 18 years until they withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000.
Israeli troops have been advancing for days in villages close to the castle, including Yohmor and Zawtar al-Sharqieh near the city of Nabatieh after they crossed the strategic Litani River, which the Israeli military has used as a de facto boundary.Large areas to the south are under Israeli military control, despite an April 17, U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
