A new addition to Beaufort Castle

Continuing the theme of travelling around Lebanon at the weekend, we headed off to Beaufort Castle on Saturday. Dom had visited the site in May last year, I had been in Syria that day (with Liv and Charlotte) so hadn't gone.

Beaufort Castle is perched on the north bank of the Litani (thus making it OK to travel to according to FCO advice!) and commands spectacular views of the Golan Heights, Israel and much of Southern Lebanon. The castle itself, although still pretty impressive, was badly damaged in 2000. The Israelis had used it as an army outpost (you can still see the trenches next to it) and, when they withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, blew up parts of the castle to hide the evidence of them being there. (Although you'd think that blowing up parts of a castle might also indicate that you had been there...).

Like most items of historical interest, the castle is in a pretty bad state of disrepair and is quite overgrown. Still, you can see from the ramparts that it once would have been a formidable nut to crack, and indeed I don't think it ever fell in battle. There is also evidence of its recent history lying around - bullet cases and assorted goods wrappers with Hebrew writing from the Israeli army. The castle also sports three really tatty flags, the Lebanese flag, Hezbollah's flag and Amal's (another predominantly Shia political party and one that often opposes Hezbollah - its leader, Nabih Berri, is the speaker of the Lebanese parliament).

Another new addition that Dom pointed out, and one that was probably erected after last summer's war, is this sign - entitled 'The Zionist Outpost of Beaufort' - and detailing various acts of resistance that Hezbollah carried out during the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon:

So no inflammatory language there, then!!