{"id":20487,"date":"2026-05-31T13:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T13:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/israel-pursuing-scorched-earth-policy-says-lebanon-pm-as-idf-pushes-deeper-into-countrys-south-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T13:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T13:50:18","slug":"israel-pursuing-scorched-earth-policy-says-lebanon-pm-as-idf-pushes-deeper-into-countrys-south-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/israel-pursuing-scorched-earth-policy-says-lebanon-pm-as-idf-pushes-deeper-into-countrys-south-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel pursuing \u2018scorched earth\u2019 policy, says Lebanon PM, as IDF pushes deeper into country\u2019s south – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defence minister announces seizure of fortress as advance against Hezbollah moves beyond Litani River
Middle East crisis \u2013 live updates<\/a>
Israeli troops have captured the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle and its strategic ridge in southern Lebanon in a significant advance against Hezbollah<\/a> that took them beyond the Litani River \u2013 their deepest incursion into the country in more than 26 years.
After days of intense fighting and airstrikes in nearby villages, the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said the military had captured the fortress, also known as Qalaat al-Shaqif, which the Israel Defense Forces used as a base during their previous occupation of southern Lebanon<\/a> between 1982 and 2000.
Images published by Katz and footage verified by Agence France-Presse showed Israeli and Golani Brigade flags flying over Beaufort Castle<\/a> as shelling echoed across the surrounding hills and plumes of smoke rose from the area. Perched on a commanding hilltop, the medieval fortress overlooks much of southern Lebanon, giving it significant strategic importance.
In a statement the IDF said it had \u201claunched an operation in the Beaufort Ridge and Wadi al-Saluki area of southern Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure and expand its control of the area\u201d.
The military said its forces had crossed the Litani River and seized positions from which Hezbollah had directed attacks and launched rockets into Israel<\/a>.
Stalled negotiations between the US and Iran have left a vacuum in which Israel has stepped up its operations in Lebanon. Observers say Israeli officials and military commanders wanted to inflict as much damage as possible on Hezbollah before any deal between Tehran and Washington imposed new limits on or stopped the current offensive.
Israeli forces appear to be positioning themselves for a potential encirclement of Nabatieh, a city that serves as an economic centre and a cultural heartland for southern Lebanon. Control of the surrounding hills would provide commanding views over large parts of southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa valley, offering a significant tactical advantage.
A truce to halt the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah officially began on 17 April but has never been observed. Israel and Hezbollah accuse each other daily of violating the ceasefire and justify their attacks by the other\u2019s alleged breaches.
For many Lebanese, Nabatieh carries a significance that extends beyond its strategic value. Long regarded as a symbol of resistance, the city has repeatedly found itself on the frontline of Israeli military campaigns and remains deeply embedded in the political and historical memory of southern Lebanon.
In recent days Israeli forces have moved past the towns of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah and Mayfadoun and are now approaching Choukine, where local people were ordered to evacuate on Saturday amid fears of further military operations.
Taking over Nabatieh would deal a blow to Hezbollah\u2019s morale, said Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, a thinktank based in Beruit.
Addressing fears among Lebanese of a virtual annexation, he added: \u201cGiven the level of destruction in the so-called \u2018yellow zone\u2019, the range of possibilities is between denying the return of the population, and annexation\/settlement in a similar fashion to the West Bank.
\u201cAnnexation is no longer a wild conspiracy theory. There are ministerial statements to this effect from Israel\u2019s finance and national security ministers, among others.\u201d
On Saturday Lebanon\u2019s prime minister, Nawaf Salam, accused Israel of \u201cpursuing a scorched-earth policy and collective punishment\u201d by \u201cdestroying towns and villages, and forcing their inhabitants into exile\u201d in the south of the country. Salam said the country was facing a \u201cdangerous\u201d escalation and called for \u201ca swift and real ceasefire\u201d.
The actions would bring \u201cneither security nor stability\u201d to Israel, he said.
Salam defended his government\u2019s engagement with its southern neighbour, after military delegations from both countries held security talks in Washington on Friday, with more US-brokered negotiations planned next week.
He said the outcome of the negotiations was \u201cnot guaranteed\u201d, but called them \u201cthe least costly path for our country and our people\u201d.
Reuters reported the Israeli military as saying one of its soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon.
Earlier on Saturday, Hezbollah said it had targeted the air traffic control unit at the Meron base in northern Israel, a strategic surveillance and command facility near the Lebanese border. The group also claimed responsibility for rocket fire towards Kiryat Shmona, one of the Israeli communities most exposed to the conflict.
Videos on social media<\/a> appeared to show beachgoers in northern Israel running for shelter as Hezbollah rockets were launched towards the area, according to local media. The barrage was the first fired from Lebanon towards the coastal city of Nahariya in three weeks.
The Lebanese health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,371 people since 2 March, when Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in support of its backer Iran. Hezbollah said it attacked Israel in retaliation for the death of Iran\u2019s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes when the war erupted on 28 February. Iran has said that any agreement to end the wider Middle East war<\/a> must also cover Lebanon.
With Agence France-Presse and Reuters<\/em><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defence minister announces seizure of fortress as advance against Hezbollah moves beyond Litani RiverMiddle East crisis \u2013 live updatesIsraeli troops have captured the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle and its strategic ridge in southern Lebanon in a significant advance against Hezbollah that took them beyond the Litani River \u2013 their deepest incursion into the country in more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}