Israel detonates 700 tonnes of explosives near newly listed UNESCO site Beaufort Castle in Lebanon

Israeli forces detonated 700 tonnes of explosives roughly 800 metres from Beaufort Castle, a 12th-century Crusader fortress in southern Lebanon, on 30 July. Lebanon's National Centre for Geophysics recorded seismic waves equivalent to a 3.8-magnitude earthquake. The blast came less than a week after UNESCO inscribed the castle on its World Heritage List and List of World Heritage in Danger on 25 July. Netanyahu and Katz said the explosives destroyed Hezbollah tunnels. Lebanon's culture ministry says damage assessment is impossible while the site remains under Israeli military control.