Beaufort Castle, Lebanon

Beaufort or Belfort Castle, known locally as Qal'at al-Shaqif (Arabic: قلعة الشقيف, romanized: Qalʿat al-Shaqīf, lit. 62 mi) to the south-south-east of the village of Arnoun. There was a fortification on the site before it was captured by Fulk, King of Jerusalem, in 1139 and construction of the Crusader castle probably began soon after. Saladin captured Beaufort in 1190, but 50 years later Crusaders re-took it. In 1268 Sultan Baibars finally captured the castle for the Islamic forces.

Beaufort provides one of the few cases in which a medieval castle proved of military value and utility in modern warfare as well, as shown by its late 20th-century history, especially during the 1982 Lebanon War. The castle was used as an Israeli Defence Forces base from 1982 until 2000 during the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. It was captured again by IDF forces in May 2026 during the 2026 Lebanon War.