An Israeli soldier has been killed and multiple more were injured as the Israel Defense Forces holds onto a historic fort in Lebanon that has become a symbol of the country’s previous occupations.An Israeli militia staff sergeant died Monday in a Hezbollah drone attack that injured three others near Beaufort Castle, a dilapidated fortress built by Christian knights in the 12th century. The Israeli militia had successfully captured the site and raised its flag the previous day.Beaufort Castle is valuable for the strategic view it provides over Israeli positions across the south of Lebanon, but also for its political symbolism. The fort has changed hands between the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Israeli military, the Lebanese government, and Hezbollah for decades. It was last owned by Israel during the First Lebanon War, when it took control over the crusader castle for almost two decades. Israeli soldiers withdrew from the outpost in 2000.
“The capture of Beaufort is a dramatic stage and a dramatic shift in the policy we are leading,” Netanyahu said in a Sunday video address following Israel’s conquest of the fort. “Now my directive is to deepen and expand our hold on areas that had been under Hezbollah’s control.”
