00:00For the first time in more than a quarter of a century, the Israeli military has seized
00:04control of a strategic Beaufort Castle deep into sovereign Lebanese territory.
00:09This is despite the fact that there has been a ceasefire in place in the area supposedly
00:13since April.
00:14So what does this mean for that truce, for the wider peace talks, for Israel's intentions
00:19in Lebanon and crucially for the Lebanese people?
00:21Israel originally occupied Beaufort Castle, which is a 900-year-old crusader castle back
00:27in 1982 and held it for 18 years until the last withdrawal during that last war.
00:32It stands in a very strategic area overlooking Lebanon, Israel and Syria, and crucially it's
00:39by one of the largest cities in the country.
00:41There has been a ceasefire in place since April between the Israeli military and Lebanese militant
00:46group Hezbollah, but there have been multiple violations and continued fighting, particularly
00:50in the south.
00:51Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said over the weekend that they will be launching
00:55strikes against Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
00:59At the moment there are wider peace talks taking place between the US, Iran, Israel and Iran
01:05has made it clear Lebanon must be included in that.
01:08Those peace talks have not so far delivered any deal and there are concerns, there are existentially
01:13different ideas of what that deal would look like.
01:16Meanwhile from the Lebanese perspective there are deep concerns that Israel is actually planning
01:21to occupy permanently swathes of Lebanese territory.
01:24Right now the Israeli military has pushed further into Lebanon than it ever has done since
01:29the early 2000s.
01:30They hold around 2,000 square kilometres of territory.
01:34It has displaced 1.2 million people.
01:37That area is equivalent to a fifth of the country.
01:40Israel has talked about this as a security buffer zone needed to keep its people safe who live
01:44in northern Israel.
01:45There are concerns that Israel is actually trying to permanently extend its borders.
01:49There is a boots to the ground occupation down in the south in Gaza.
01:53We're already seeing Israeli troops have presence in Syria and now they're pushing further north
01:58deep into Lebanese territory.
02:00The Lebanese Prime Minister has accused Israel of pursuing scorched earth tactics and a collective
02:05punishment of the Lebanese people.
02:07The Israeli Defence Minister has said they will not stop until they have crushed Hezbollah.
02:11Hezbollah shows no signs of handing over its weapons.
02:14Iran has made it very clear that if Lebanon is not included in a peace deal properly then
02:19there will be no peace deal for the Middle East region.
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