Inside Hezbollah’s nerve center: What IDF troops found under Beaufort Castle

Above ground, forces located firing positions, observation posts, anti-tank weapons, and mortars aimed at Israeli territory, along with equipment indicating terrorists had been stationed there for extended periods.

By Bianca Jones, JFeed

Israeli forces have swept through the historic Beaufort Castle ridge in southern Lebanon, uncovering an extensive Hezbollah tunnel system built with direct Iranian funding, including an underground operating room used to treat wounded fighters, according to an Israel Defense correspondent who visited the site with troops.

The ridge, a strategic high point overlooking both southern Lebanon and northern Israel, had not been held by Israeli forces since the IDF’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.

Commanders described it as a Hezbollah nerve center, used for decades to gather intelligence and direct fire toward Israeli border communities while a network of tunnels was constructed deep beneath it.

The advance on Beaufort came at the end of weeks of fighting across southern Lebanon that began in the areas between the Litani and Saluki rivers, regions long considered part of Hezbollah’s forward defensive line.

Forces gradually expanded control toward the surrounding ridges, including Kantara, Ali Taher, and Nabatieh, before pushing up to Beaufort itself.

Lt. Col. A., commander of Battalion 75 under Golani’s reconnaissance unit, said his troops were the first armored battalion to enter the area, leading the assault on the nearby Yuhmur ridge before advancing to Beaufort.

Above ground, forces located firing positions, observation posts, anti-tank weapons, and mortars aimed at Israeli territory, along with equipment indicating terrorists had been stationed there for extended periods.

The battalion commander said resistance at the ridge was lighter than expected given its strategic value, an outcome he attributed to the scale of the advancing armored force.

Once the surface was secured, the Yahalom combat engineering unit began working through the tunnel network exposed beneath it.

Lt. Col. Ch., commander of Yahalom’s Battalion 1, described a system of well-built, high-ceilinged tunnels equipped with electricity, water, communications, and sewage infrastructure, along with bathrooms, showers, kitchens, and sleeping quarters designed for long-term habitation.

Some tunnel branches stretched more than a kilometer, he said, serving separate functions, including housing, command and control, and firing positions.

Capt. B., the battalion’s operations officer, said forces gained full control of the underground system within days of entering.

He said the most striking find was a fully equipped underground operating room near the tunnel entrance, used to treat wounded fighters so they could return to combat, a level of medical infrastructure he said troops had not previously encountered in tunnels of this kind.

Fighters also recovered anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, explosives, and infantry equipment throughout the tunnel system.

Officers said the construction closely resembled other Iranian-funded tunnel networks discovered elsewhere in southern Lebanon, describing what they called a consistent Iranian engineering signature across the sites.

The battalion commander said troops would continue operating in the area until the threat to Israel from the site was fully eliminated.