Pressure mounted upon Israel over its increased incursion deep into Lebanon, as France, the UK and Germany condemned the Israeli operations while Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to intensify his campaign against Hezbollah after Israeli forces captured the medieval Beaufort Castle, apparently disregarding the US-brokered truce meant to halt the offensive.
The latest escalation has triggered mounting international concern, with European leaders warning that the expanding military offensive risked further destabilising the region at a time when diplomatic efforts were underway to preserve an already fragile ceasefire.
France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, denounced the operation and asserted that nothing justified the major escalation unfolding in southern Lebanon, while French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot sought an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council scheduled for Monday.
Britain and Germany joined France in censuring the offensive, with senior officials urging all parties to respect the ceasefire arrangement brokered earlier this year. The truce, however, has been repeatedly violated amid continuing hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, whose strong political and military presence in southern Lebanon has remained at the centre of the confrontation.
Israel has maintained that its operations are directed against Hezbollah, accusing the group of launching thousands of missiles and drones into northern Israel. The military campaign has exacted a devastating humanitarian toll, displaced more than a million people and left over 3,300 dead, including dozens of children, according to reports from the region.
The current phase of the conflict erupted in March after Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel in retaliation for the joint US-Israeli killing of Iran’s supreme leader, an event that dramatically widened regional tensions. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of pursuing a policy of systematic destruction against towns and cities across southern Lebanon.
Hailing the seizure of Beaufort Castle as a “dramatic shift” in the campaign, Netanyahu described the fortress as a potent symbol of Israeli military history and declared that Israeli forces would deepen and expand their hold over territories previously controlled by Hezbollah.
Yet security analysts have questioned the strategic value of the capture, arguing that it amounts more to a symbolic and public-relations victory than a decisive military breakthrough.