Lebanese health officials reported that an Israeli attack on a hotel in central Beirut killed at least four people and wounded 10 others. The strike occurred early Sunday morning, targeting a hotel in the Raouche area, a popular tourist destination that had previously remained untouched during the Israel-Hezbollah war and subsequent violations of the November 2024 ceasefire.
The Israeli military claimed in a statement that it targeted key commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, alleging they were planning terror attacks against Israel while operating for Iran. No names were provided. Israel has launched multiple waves of strikes across Lebanon this week and deployed ground troops to border areas, intensifying its campaign against Iranian-linked targets.
The targeted hotel was housing displaced people who had fled fighting in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, with many seen evacuating the building fearing further air raids. The Raouche area along the Mediterranean coast is home to dozens of hotels, now overcrowded with civilians displaced by the ongoing conflict, highlighting the humanitarian toll of the escalating violence.
In southern Lebanon, the official National News Agency said at least 12 people were killed in three separate overnight strikes. The Israeli military earlier announced it had “began an additional wave of strikes in Beirut,” purportedly targeting the capital’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold. Footage from the area showed smoke rising after at least two air attacks several hours apart.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, claimed rocket attacks early Sunday targeting Israeli forces and a city across the border, and said its fighters clashed with Israeli troops near the border town of Aitaroun. Air raid sirens sounded in northern Israel, though no immediate casualties or damage were reported. The Israeli military also issued a forced evacuation order for four villages in southern Lebanon, further displacing civilians.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam recently warned that “the consequences of this displacement, at the humanitarian and political level, may well be unprecedented,” adding, “Our country has been drawn into a devastating war that we did not seek and did not choose.” The strike marks the second Israeli attack on a Beirut-area hotel this week, following a hit on a hotel in the Hazmieh neighborhood on Wednesday.
Source: www.aljazeera.com