BEAUFORT RIDGE, Lebanon — With cool air rushing over the sweeping view from atop Beaufort Castle at dawn, it is easy to forget that just a few months ago, Hezbollah operatives launched hundreds of attacks at Israeli troops and northern Israel from this strategic escarpment.

In late May, Israel recaptured the historic Beaufort Castle and the surrounding ridge, 26 years after withdrawing from the site, as it pushed deeper into Lebanon during the fighting against Hezbollah.

Speaking to reporters during an organized media tour of the area last week, the commander of the 36th Division, Brig. Gen. Yiftah Norkin, said the capture of the Beaufort Ridge was “critical to the defense of the Galilee Panhandle, Metula, and the surrounding communities.”

Sitting atop a steep bluff some 680 meters (2,230 feet) above sea level, the site, known in Lebanon as Qalaat al-Shakif, commands sweeping views of the Galilee Panhandle in northern Israel, as well as the Nabatieh area in southern Lebanon, making it a strategically valuable position.

Home to a medieval fortress and castle that today lies mostly in ruins, Beaufort also holds symbolic importance as an emblem of Israel’s past military entanglements in Lebanon, particularly the 18-year occupation that ended in 2000.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, operations in the Beaufort Castle area are focused on capturing and demolishing major Hezbollah underground sites, as well as preventing the terror group from carrying out rocket attacks on Israel from the area.

Hezbollah launched over 400 rockets from the Beaufort Ridge toward northern Israel during the current round of fighting, mainly at the border community of Metula, the military says.

The fighting began in early March, when the Lebanese terror group began firing missiles and drones at Israel in support of its patron, Iran.

It also dispatched first-person view drones and fired anti-tank missiles at troops operating in southern Lebanon from the area.

About a kilometer (0.6 miles) south of the Crusader-built fortress, beneath the........

© The Times of Israel