Former Israeli Commanders Caution That Beaufort Castle Victory Could Become Another Lebanese Quagmire

The planting of an Israeli flag atop Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon has sparked internal debate within Israel, with veteran military commanders who held the fortress during its earlier occupation expressing deep concerns that current military gains could devolve into a protracted conflict similar to the one that concluded with Israel's 2000 withdrawal.

Veteran officers interviewed by journalist Dodi Fatimer for the Israeli publication Maariv shared their reflections on the strategic site as Israeli forces reasserted control over what has long symbolized the broader struggle in Lebanon.

Built in the twelfth century on an elevated position overlooking both the Litani River and the Galilee, Beaufort Castle stands as a crucial military vantage point in southern Lebanon's terrain. Palestinian Liberation Organization fighters operated from the fortress during the 1970s, launching attacks on northern Israeli communities. The Israeli military captured it in 1982 during the Lebanese invasion, a costly battle that claimed six Israeli soldiers' lives.

Retired Colonel Dr. Zvi Barkai, who participated in the 1982 assault on the castle, questioned whether the site's strategic importance justified its symbolic weight. He acknowledged that controlling Beaufort eliminated an immediate threat but rejected the notion that its seizure fundamentally altered the war's trajectory. The decisive factors, he argued, were the crossing of the Litani River and the subsequent northward advance toward higher elevations.

Barkai recounted commanding forces at age 24 after the unit commander fell wounded and reconnaissance commander Goni Harnik was killed. He successfully completed the mission despite these losses.

Drawing parallels between past and present, Barkai observed that Hezbollah today commands substantially greater military strength than the Palestinian factions Israel faced in 1982, even as Israeli forces have grown more sophisticated. He cautioned that a deep penetration into Lebanon without decisive military success could erode both civilian and military backing for the operation. Ultimately, he stressed, any lasting resolution with Hezbollah demands political negotiation alongside military action.

Retired Colonel Ronen Itzik, who commanded the Beaufort position from 1994 to 1995, described arriving at the citadel to find troops demoralized by Hezbollah's effectiveness against Israeli forces. Through reorganization and improved readiness measures, he helped restore operational capacity during that period.

While recapturing Shaqif brings him satisfaction, Itzik warned against extended occupation, cautioning that Israel could find itself trapped in the exhausting war of attrition that characterized its earlier presence in southern Lebanon.

Retired Brigadier General Oren Afman, the last Israeli commander at Beaufort before the 2000 pullout, offered the most pointed critique of current leadership. He characterized Israel's 2026 position as remarkably similar to conditions in 1982, the 1990s, and the early 2000s—situations where ground-level military successes were leveraged politically without overarching strategic direction.

Although Israeli forces have achieved significant military gains recently, Afman warned that presenting Beaufort's capture as a strategic triumph masks the absence of a coherent political framework for the post-military phase. He predicted that photographs of Israeli soldiers at the fortress could quickly give way to images of brutal guerrilla conflict if the military footprint becomes permanent. Despite sustained Israeli strikes, he emphasized, Hezbollah retains meaningful operational capacity.

Afman concluded with sharp words for Israeli leadership, stating that "the strategic compass is not in Jerusalem but in the White House"—suggesting that ultimate decisions about the conflict's trajectory now lie beyond Israeli government control.

This internal tension highlights a striking contradiction: while Israeli authorities celebrate Beaufort's recapture as a military victory, the very commanders who previously held and defended the castle warn that history may repeat itself, ending once again in withdrawal and unfulfilled objectives.