Corpse Dating to 1982 Found at Beaufort Castle

The employees of the Directorate General of Antiquities on Wednesday found remnants of a corpse dating to more than 30 years ago while conducting maintenance works at Beaufort Castle (al-Shaqif Fortress) near the southern town of Arnoun, state-run National News Agency reported.

“At once, army intelligence agents from the Nabatiyeh department and members of the Internal Security Forces headed to the location accompanied by Nabatiyeh's forensic doctor Jamal Ello, who examined the remnants that turned out to be consisted of a leg bone and foot bones,” NNA said.

A military shirt, shoes and socks were found alongside the body of the man who, according to the forensic, died at 30.

“The remnants likely belong to a gunman who died in clashes between Palestinian and Lebanese fighters at the fortress during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon,” the forensic doctor said.

The remnants were transferred to the public prosecution in Nabatiyeh, which in turn sent them to the central forensic laboratory in Beirut for DNA tests, “especially that there are names for Palestinian and Lebanese fighters who went missing at the fortress during the Israeli invasion,” the agency added.

Beaufort, or Qalaat al-Shaqif in Arabic, is a Crusader fortress in the Nabatiyeh governorate, about one kilometer from the town of Arnoun.

The castle's strategic location, which affords a view of much of southern Lebanon and northern Israel, has caused it to be a focus for recent conflicts. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) held the castle from 1976 onwards, during the Lebanese Civil War and consequentially it was attacked dozens of times by Israeli forces in the space of five years.

On June 6, 1982, at the start of the Israeli invasion, the PLO position on Beaufort Castle was heavily shelled by Israel before it was captured by Israeli forces two days later. The fighting caused damage to the castle, and in the aftermath the Israeli army adapted the site for their own use by building bunkers.

In 2000 the Israeli army left Beaufort as it withdrew from southern Lebanon.

The Israeli occupation of Beaufort provides the basis of the Israeli film Beaufort, although the film itself was shot on the Golan Heights.