{"id":526524,"date":"2026-07-05T15:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T15:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/526524\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T15:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T15:28:08","slug":"israeli-army-chief-threatens-lebanon-with-swift-offensive-from-occupied-beaufort-castle-middle-east-monitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/526524\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli army chief threatens Lebanon with \u2018swift offensive\u2019 from occupied Beaufort Castle \u2013 Middle East Monitor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir on Sunday threatened Lebanon with a \u201cswift offensive\u201d in the event of any violation of an ongoing ceasefire agreement, during a field visit to the occupied Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon,\u00a0Anadolu reports.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, the Israeli army said Zamir toured forces stationed in the Beaufort area, known in Arabic as Qalaat al-Shaqif, alongside senior military commanders.<\/p>\n<p>During the visit, Zamir called for transitioning to a \u201cswift offensive\u201d if the ceasefire agreement is breached.<\/p>\n<p>The statement quoted him as describing Beaufort Castle as a \u201cstrategic point dominating its surroundings\u201d and claimed the area was \u201cfull of terrorist infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ignoring Israel\u2019s near-daily violations of the ceasefire, Zamir also urged the Lebanese army to fulfill its commitments and work to remove Hezbollah fighters from the area.<\/p>\n<p>He further claimed that Hezbollah had built, with Iranian funding and direction, \u201cextensive tunnel systems and underground infrastructure\u201d over decades to threaten northern Israeli settlements.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20260703-israeli-army-ends-givati-brigade-mission-in-southern-lebanon-after-8-months\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Israeli army ends Givati Brigade mission in southern Lebanon after 8 months<\/a><\/p>\n<p>There was no immediate response from Lebanese authorities on Zamir\u2019s threat or his field visit.<\/p>\n<p>In late May, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that Israeli forces had taken control of Beaufort Castle, in the deepest push into Lebanese territory since 2,000.<\/p>\n<p>Hezbollah, however, said at the time that the site had been \u201cfree of any military resistance\u201d when Israeli forces entered it, accusing Israel of occupying the area for propaganda purposes.<\/p>\n<p>Beaufort Castle is one of southern Lebanon\u2019s most prominent strategic landmarks. Israeli forces withdrew from the site in 2000.<\/p>\n<p>The latest threat comes despite a framework agreement signed between Lebanon and Israel on June 26 under US mediation, which aims to end the conflict and address its root causes.<\/p>\n<p>Since March 2, 2026, Israeli military operations in Lebanon have killed at least 4,303 people and injured 12,202 others, according to Lebanese authorities, while displacing more than one million.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20260705-israels-ben-gvir-to-skip-un-police-summit-in-new-york-amid-legal-pressure-reports\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Israel\u2019s Ben-Gvir to skip UN police summit in New York amid legal pressure: Reports<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir on Sunday threatened Lebanon with a \u201cswift offensive\u201d in the event of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-526524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}