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The United Nations Security Council will convene an emergency meeting Monday to address Israel's expanding military offensive in Lebanon, including the capture of the medieval Crusader fortress of Beaufort Castle in the country's south, diplomatic sources told AFP.
The session, requested by France, is scheduled to follow immediately after a separate emergency meeting on the crash of a Russian drone into a Romanian apartment building, set to begin at 3:00 p.m. local time (1900 GMT).
The Security Council session comes as Washington prepares to host a new round of political negotiations between Israel and Lebanon on June 2 and 3. The June talks will be the fourth round of face-to-face negotiations hosted by Washington, following an earlier round this month that produced a 45-day extension of the existing cessation-of-hostilities agreement.
The State Department described those sessions as "highly productive," with both governments agreeing on a framework aimed at full mutual recognition of sovereignty and lasting security along their shared border.
The Israeli military has captured the 12th-century Crusader fortress of Beaufort in southern Lebanon, a hilltop position overlooking the Galilee Panhandle and the Nabatieh district, as a ground offensive advances deeper into Lebanese territory than at any point in over 25 years.
The castle's capture marks the most significant territorial gain since the current Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2. Israel previously held Beaufort after capturing it in 1982 and withdrew in 2000.
The Israeli military has crossed the Litani River and is now approximately five kilometers from Nabatieh, Lebanon's fifth-largest city, with troops reported in the towns of Zawtar al-Sharqiya and Shaqif Arnoun and on the outskirts of Choukine. Israeli military now occupies roughly 2,000 square kilometers of Lebanese territory, nearly 20 percent of the country.
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to announce a fresh ceasefire agreement at the conclusion of the June talks, Lebanon's Broadcasting Corporation International reported Sunday, citing sources familiar with the discussions.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on May 25, Rubio described Hezbollah as "100 percent Iranian proxy" and the central impediment to durable peace, drawing a sharp distinction between the group and the Lebanese government, which he said had engaged constructively.
"As long as an armed Hezbollah exists, it's going to be hard to achieve peace in Lebanon," he said, adding that the group was not only targeting Israel but "victimizing the people of Lebanon, who are paying a tremendous price." He affirmed that Israel retains the right to respond to any Hezbollah missile launches, a position he said had been understood by all parties throughout the ceasefire period.
Rubio was careful to separate the Lebanon file from broader U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations, describing them as proceeding on independent tracks, and said Washington was awaiting a response to what he characterized as a "pretty solid" proposal on the nuclear matter.
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