{"id":230911,"date":"2026-07-31T19:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T19:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/230911\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T19:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T19:18:08","slug":"lebanon-israeli-beaufort-castle-blast-breached-ceasefire-shafaq-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/230911\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon: Israeli Beaufort Castle blast breached ceasefire – Shafaq News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n 2026-07-31T18:52:31+00:00<\/p>\n

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Shafaq News- Beirut<\/p>\n

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime
\nMinister Nawaf Salam on Friday condemned the massive Israeli explosion at the
\nUNESCO-listed *Beaufort Castle (Qala’at al-Shqif) in southern Lebanon, saying it breached the ceasefire, endangered
\ncivilians, damaged cultural heritage, and undermined diplomatic efforts.<\/p>\n

Aoun denounced Israel’s continuing
\noperations in southern Lebanon, particularly explosions targeting
\ninfrastructure and archaeological landmarks, describing the detonation at
\nBeaufort Castle as a “dangerous escalation” and a “blatant violation”
\nof existing commitments that threatened the implementation of the US-sponsored
\nframework agreement, under which Lebanon has committed to fulfilling its
\nobligations. Citing Lebanon’s National Center for Geophysics, he noted that the
\nblast generated seismic waves equivalent to a magnitude 3.8 earthquake.<\/p>\n

The timing, on the eve of Lebanese-Israeli talks
\nin Rome on the three-party framework, he added, sent “negative
\nmessages” and weakened international efforts to reinforce stability,
\nurging the agreement’s sponsors and the international community to halt actions
\nthat could derail diplomatic progress and security in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Salam, for his part, said the repeated
\nexplosions, shelling, and systematic destruction amounted to a \u201cclear ceasefire
\nbreach\u201d and violated Lebanon’s sovereignty and international law. <\/p>\n

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\u2014 Nawaf Salam \u0646\u0648\u0627\u0641 \u0633\u0644\u0627\u0645 (@nawafsalam) July 31, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n

Overnight Thursday into Friday, the Israeli
\nPrime Minister’s Office and the Defense Ministry announced<\/a> that the Israeli
\nmilitary had destroyed a network of Hezbollah tunnels beneath Beaufort Castle
\nin the Arnoun area using approximately 700 tons of explosives. The joint statement
\nalleged the tunnels were “a key component” of the group’s plan to
\ninfiltrate communities in the Galilee.<\/p>\n

Lebanese media characterized the operation
\nas one of the largest carried out by Israel in southern Lebanon, saying its
\ndestructive impact and geographic extent were surpassed only by the 2020 Beirut
\nport explosion. The blast altered the landscape around Arnoun and neighboring
\nareas, flattening rocky hills, farmland, and dozens of homes while blanketing
\nlarge stretches of land with limestone debris. The full extent of the damage to
\nthe historic fortress, however, has yet to be determined.<\/p>\n

Israeli forces also carried out three
\npowerful explosions near Taybeh and another in Deir Seryan, both in the
\nMarjayoun district, as well as a separate blast in Kfartebnit, in Nabatieh. Illumination
\nshells fired around Ali al-Taher hill on the outskirts of Nabatieh al-Fawqa
\nreportedly ignited fires in the area.<\/p>\n

Read more: \u201cAttack on Identity\u201d: Israel damages 55 historic towns in Lebanon<\/a><\/p>\n

The developments came despite the
\nUS-sponsored framework agreement signed by Beirut and Tel Aviv on June 26,
\nwhich provides for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese
\nterritory in exchange for the deployment of the Lebanese Army and the disarmament
\nof armed groups. Israel, however, continues to occupy areas in southern
\nLebanon, including territory held for decades and areas seized during the
\n2023\u20132024 conflict, while its latest operations extended more than 10
\nkilometers into Lebanese territory. <\/p>\n

According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry,
\nIsraeli attacks since March 2 have killed 4,333 people and injured 12,236
\nothers, including women and children. <\/p>\n

*Beaufort Castle is one of five Mount Amel
\nfortresses that UNESCO inscribed on both the World Heritage List and the List
\nof World Heritage in Danger on July 24 under an emergency procedure prompted by
\nthe ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026-07-31T18:52:31+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News- Beirut Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[44322,5885,37,93,65465],"class_list":["post-230911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lebanon","tag-beaufort-castle","tag-blast","tag-israel","tag-lebanon","tag-lebanon-israeli-beaufort-castle-blast-breached-ceasefire"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117016206127315320","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}