Beirut: An Israeli air strike on a hotel in central Beirut killed four people and wounded at least 10 others early Sunday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported. The Israeli military said it targeted commanders from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), escalating its campaign against Iran-backed groups.
The raid hit a hotel room in Raouche, a bustling tourist spot on Beirut’s Mediterranean coast lined with overcrowded hotels sheltering displaced families. Raouche had remained untouched during the Israel-Hezbollah war, which ended with a November 2024 ceasefire.
In a statement, Israel’s military said it targeted key figures in the IRGC’s elite Quds Force Lebanon Corps. “The commanders of the Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps operated to advance terror attacks against the state of Israel and its civilians, while operating simultaneously for the IRGC in Iran,” it said, without naming them.
Southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, have seen heavy fighting, displacing thousands into areas like Raouche.
This hotel attack marks the second this week; on Wednesday, an Israeli strike hit a hotel in Beirut’s Christian-majority Hazmieh neighbourhood.
In southern Lebanon, the official National News Agency reported 12 killed in three overnight strikes. The Israeli military announced “an additional wave of strikes in Beirut,” with footage showing smoke from at least two attacks hours apart in the southern suburbs.
Hezbollah claimed rocket fire at Israeli forces and a border city, beside clashes near Aitaroun town. Air raid sirens echoed in northern Israel, but no casualties were reported.
Israel issued fresh evacuation orders to four southern Lebanese villages on Sunday.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam recently highlighted the crisis: “The consequences of this displacement, at the humanitarian and political level, may well be unprecedented.”
Tensions exploded on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes killing over 1,300 people, including Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
