Key events24m agoOpening summaryShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureFootage this morning showed the Israeli army flag raised above the Beaufort Castle citadel, with shelling audible and smoke rising from the surrounding area.The fortress commands sweeping views of south Lebanon, making it a position of considerable strategic value. The crusader fortress dates back to the 1100s, it changed hands between the crusaders and Islamic forces, before Sultan Baibars captured it in 1268. It has played a role in past conflict between Israel and Lebanon, making it one of few medieval fortresses to have prove valuable in modern warfare.Israeli forces captured the castle, also known as Qalaat al-Shakif, in 1982 and used it as a base during their previous occupation of southern Lebanon, which lasted nearly two decades before ending in 2000.An Israeli flag is raised on Beaufort castle, as seen from Marjayoun, southern Lebanon, on Sunday Photograph: ReutersOpening summaryIsraeli troops have captured a mountain topped with a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon in their deepest incursion into the country in more than a quarter of a century.The capture of Beaufort castle near the city of Nabatiyeh came after days of intense fighting and airstrikes in nearby villages where Israeli troops fought Hezbollah members in the rugged area.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 that they had raised an Israeli flag over the castle. Israeli troops previously captured the castle in 1982 and held it until they withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.“Forty-four years after the heroic Battle of Beaufort, and on this day commemorating the soldiers who fell in the First Lebanon War (1982), our troops have returned to the summit of Beaufort and once again raised the Israeli flag there,” Katz said on his Telegram channel.The Israeli push came despite a nominal ceasefire that has been in place since April and just days before the next round of talks are set to be held at the US State Department on 2 and 3 June.Here are the other recent developments from the crisis in the Middle East: