Beaufort Castle , Lebanon Beaufort or Belfort ( " Shaqif Arnun " or " Qala ' at al - Shaqif " in Arabic ) is a Crusader fortress in Nabatieh Governorate , Southern Lebanon , about 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 60 years later Crusaders re - took it . In 1268 Sultan Baibars captured the castle . The castle was named " bel fort " or " beau fort " ( French for " " beautiful fortress " " ) by the Crusaders who occupied the castle in the 12th century . Its Arabic name " Qala ' at al - Shaqif " means " Castle of the High Rock " ( " shqif " is the Aramaic word for " " high rock " " ) . Beaufort provides one of the few cases where a medieval castle proved of military value and utility also in modern warfare , as its late 20th - century history shows . Medieval history . The outcrop Beaufort occupied overlooks the Litani River . The river flows past the east side of the castle , which stands atop a cliff which declines steeply to the river . Little is known of the site prior to its capture by Crusader forces in 1139 , as no contemporary documents mention the site before then . However , historians assume that the castle ' s commanding hilltop site made it a strategic position that was fortified before its capture by the Crusaders . Fulk , King of Jerusalem , captured the fortification of Qal ' at al - Shaqif in 1139 and gave the site to the lords of Sidon . Medieval historian Hugh Kennedy speculates that construction of the Crusader castle began soon after Fulk gave the site to the lords of Sidon . The Battle of Hattin in 1187 saw the Crusaders suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of Saladin . In the aftermath , many castles and cities fell to Saladin ' s forces so that only a handful of cities remained under the Crusaders ' control . Beaufort was one of the last castles to resist Saladin . In April 1189 , Saladin was preparing to besiege the castle and Arab sources describe the event in detail . At the time Beaufort was under the control of Reynald of Sidon who had survived the Battle of Hattin , While Saladin was camped at nearby Marjayoun , preparing for the siege , Reynald met him and claimed to have Muslim sympathies . He said that while he would like to hand over control of Beaufort , his family were in the Christian city of Tyre and he could not surrender until they were safely out of the city . In the hope of a taking the castle without any bloodshed , Reynald was given three months to extract his family from Tyre ; instead he used this time to repair the castle and stock up on supplies . After three months Reynald met with Saladin again , protesting he needed more time . Saladin insisted he hand over the castle immediately , so Reynald ordered the garrison to surrender . When they refused Reynald was taken prisoner and the siege began . Hostilities lasted until August that year when Saladin was forced to lift the siege to defend Acre . In April 1190 an agreement was reached where the castle ' s garrison would hand over control to Saladin in return for Reynald ' s release . The castle came under Crusader control in 1240 as part of a treaty negotiated by Theobald I of Navarre . It was sold to the Knights Templar by Reginald ' s grandson , Julian of Sidon , in 1260 . In 1268 , the Mamluke Sultan Baibars captured the castle , and there was relative calm through the 14th , 15th , and 16th centuries . Modern history . In the 17th century Fakhr - al - Din II took the castle as a part of his network of fortifications . Fakhr - al - Din II was defeated by the Ottomans , who destroyed the upper portions of the castle . The area was ruled by feudal families until 1769 . In 1782 the Governor of Acre besieged the castle , captured it and destroyed many of its remaining fortifications . The Galilee earthquake of 1837 caused further damage to the structure and from then on the ruins were used as a quarry and a shelter for sheep . The late 19th century saw the start of study of Beaufort Castle , with surveys by Victor Guérin in 1880 and Claude Reignier Conder and Herbert Kitchener in 1881 as part of the Survey of Western Palestine . In 1921 the French Mandate was established and French historians and archaeologists investigated the region ' s history and structures . The medieval historian Paul Deschamps began studying Crusader castles in the 1927 and his work influenced subsequent generations of historians of the Crusades . In 1936 , seven years after he first visited Beaufort , Deschamps and architect Pierre Coupel organised 65 soldiers to clear Beaufort ' s inner enclosure and the keep . Kennedy highlights Deschamps ' " La Défense du Royaume de Jerusalem " ( 1939 ) as a particularly important source in the study of Beaufort as " his descriptions and plans record a building which has probably been mutilated beyond recognition by recent military activity " . The French Mandate ended in 1943 when Lebanon became independent . 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 6 June 1982 , at the start of Operation Peace for Galilee ( the 1982 Lebanon War ) , the PLO position on Beaufort Castle was heavily shelled by the Israelis before it was captured by the Israeli forces two days later in the Battle of the Beaufort . 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 . The IDF occupation of Beaufort provides the basis of the Israeli film Beaufort , although the film itself was shot on the Golan Heights . Layout . Several of the great Crusader castles were built on spurs , using natural defences and fortifying the one access point . The setting of Beaufort plays a role in the defence of the site , but the terrain is only impassable on the north side . The Arabs extended the castle to include a slightly lower shelf of rock immediately to the east of the castle , thereby removing one of the routes of attack . Divided into two wards , one occupying the lower ground to the east , the castle is roughly triangular in shape and measures about . A keep or great tower was built against the west wall of the upper ward ; the tower has a square plan and measures about . While it was common for keeps in Europe to be entered through the first floor , in Syria the convention was for a ground floor entrance as can be seen at Beaufort .