RUSSIA PERSPECTIVE

Russia presents the capture of Beaufort as a new chapter in the grand narrative that has structured its coverage of the Middle East since 2022: the failure of the US to impose a stable regional order and the maximalist drift of Israel that Washington can no longer contain. Videos of the Israeli flag on the fortress open RT, which cites Netanyahu — 'dramatic shift' — before shifting to the key element for Moscow: 'no weaponry inside the castle' according to Israeli media themselves. The capture appears more symbolic than tactical.

TASS relays in four successive dispatches the ecosystem of European condemnations: Macron, German Minister Wadephul, Macron again with his list of Gulf consultations. The Russian narrative builds methodically the image of a divided West, where Trump improvises a ceasefire by tweet while his European allies convene an emergency Security Council meeting. TASS details the position of Hezbollah, citing 'over 20 missiles fired at northern Israel — Al Jazeera' and the attack on Tiberias — tactical details that are rare elsewhere.

The properly Russian angle emerges in the historical chronology: RT and TASS highlight that it was Lebanon that was 'drawn into' the Israeli-American war against Iran on March 2, that Israel has occupied southern Lebanon since March, and that the 'truce supposedly took effect on April 17' but that 'hostilities never stopped.' The word 'supposedly' is telling. Moscow also proposes a precise historical detail that no Anglo-Saxon media has picked up: Beaufort was built by the Crusaders in 1139, at 300 meters altitude, 100 kilometers south of Beirut, and served as a Palestinian base in the 1970s to bomb northern Israel. The historical precision is a TASS signature — it legitimates the anti-Western narrative without hitting it over the head.