War in the Middle East: four questions on the extension of the Israeli offensive in Lebanon

The truce is getting further and further away. The Israeli army has intensified its air and ground operations in Lebanon in recent days, with the aim of disarming Hezbollah. Sunday May 31, it announced that it had captured the emblematic medieval fortress of Beaufort, a new stage in its land advance in the south of the country.

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, announced on BFMTV that he had requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. “Nothing can justify the prolongation of Israeli military operations in Lebanon and its deeper and deeper occupation of the territory”he estimated.

How is the capture of Beaufort Fortress symbolic? In what context does this new offensive take place? Where are the talks? Franceinfo takes a look at the questions that arise.

1 Which territories in Lebanon were targeted by these new operations?

Israeli army operations are concentrated in southern Lebanon, declared by Israel this week as a “combat zone”. On Friday, Israeli soldiers “traversé” the Litani, a river located around thirty kilometers north of the border. On Saturday morning, the Israeli army called on residents of more than a dozen Lebanese villages to evacuate before strikes, which affected several localities in the south, according to the official Lebanese National Information Agency (ANI).

On Sunday, the IDF announced on “extended its operations against Hezbollah targets north of the river” and seized the medieval fortress of Beaufort, where its flag now flies, according to AFP images. According to this same source, the objective is to eliminate the direct threats weighing on the localities of northern Galilee and Metula. “We are all determined to crush the power of Hezbollah and accomplish the mission: ensuring the security of the people of the north” of Israel, Defense Minister Israël Katz said.

In a message on X, the army broadcast what it presents as images of the operation in the region of the Beaufort Ridge and Wadi al-Saluki. “IDF soldiers located weapons in the village of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, providing new evidence of Hezbollah’s presence in the heart of civilian areas in southern Lebanon”she writes.

The Lebanese army simply confirmed that an Israeli drone strike, “ciblée”had hit and seriously injured two of his soldiers on board a vehicle, near the southern town of Nabatiyé.

2 How is the capture of Beaufort Fortress symbolic?

Strategic, the site of this fortress also has a symbolic dimension, having served as a base for Israeli forces during the two decades of occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000. “Forty-four years after the heroic Battle of Beaufort and on this day of commemoration of the soldiers who fell during the First Lebanon War (1982)”soldiers “returned to the summit of Beaufort and raised the flag of Israel again”launched the Israeli Defense Minister.

The fortress is located on a rocky outcrop overlooking southern Lebanon and part of northern Israel. The citadel obtained enhanced protection from UNESCO in 2024. The Minister of Culture, Ghassan Salamé, was concerned on Friday about “serious danger” to which the Israeli offensive exposed it.

3 How did the Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah react and respond?

On Saturday May 30, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for rocket fire towards northern Israel and assured of being engaged in fighting to prevent Israeli troops from taking control of the localities of Zawtar al-Sharqiya, Yohmor al-Shaqif and Dibbine, near Nabatiyé, around which they continue, according to him, to maneuver.

The Lebanese Shiite movement also claimed to have attacked Israeli troops who were trying to advance in the Beaufort Fortress region. He also declared that he had targeted military infrastructures in Safed, in the north of Israel, about thirty kilometers from the border at dawn, a shot that the Israeli army did not confirm.

The Israeli army, on the other hand, confirmed having intercepted several projectiles and announced on Sunday that one of its soldiers had been killed the day before by a Hezbollah explosive drone in southern Lebanon, bringing to 25 the number of deaths in its ranks since the beginning of March. Staff Sergeant Michael Tyukin, 21 years old, “fell in combat in southern Lebanon”said the army in a short press release. Israeli public television Kan also broadcast videos posted on social networks showing rockets falling into the sea on a beach in Nahariya, near the border, sowing panic among users.

In a statement, the Lebanese President and Prime Minister, Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam, denounced “Israel’s reprehensible practices”, “l’extension” of his attacks as well as the “continued bombing and bulldozing of homes and historic sites”. Nawaf Salam played that “policy of scorched earth and collective punishment” led by the neighboring country “will not bring him[it] neither to security nor to stability”.

4 In what context does the extension of the Israeli offensive take place?

This intensification of Israeli military operations in Lebanon comes as military delegations from the two countries met on Friday in Washington, to prepare a new round of talks, scheduled for June 2 and 3. This is the fourth round since the war broke out. Hezbollah launched hostilities on March 2 in support of Iran, which had been targeted since February 28 by a vast Israeli-American bombing campaign.

According to Pentagon number two, Elbridge Colby, Friday’s military meeting, “constructive”will serve “basic to the political aspect” discussed during meetings scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. The press release published by the United States at the end of the meeting did not mention a cease-fire. An end to the Israeli military campaign in Lebanon is one of Iran’s conditions for any agreement to end the war in the Middle East.

The Lebanese president told the head of American diplomacy, Marco Rubio, that a truce was “the obligatory passage” for any progress in the negotiations. His Prime Minister, for his part, defended the continuation of negotiations with Israel, which according to him constitute “the least expensive way” for Lebanon.

In total, since the beginning of March, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed 3,355 people and displaced more than a million people, according to the authorities. Clashes between Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah are almost daily despite the truce of April 17, which has never been respected. Over the past week alone, 15 children were killed and 62 injured, according to Unicef.