Beirut Hotel Strike: 4 Killed, Israel Targets Iranian Commanders | Lebanon Conflict Updates
Israeli Strikes Target Beirut Hotel, Killing Four, as Middle East Conflict Escalates
– An Israeli airstrike on a hotel in central Beirut, Lebanon, killed at least four people and wounded ten others, Lebanese health officials reported. Israel confirmed the strike, stating it targeted commanders from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
The attack on the hotel, a major tourist destination in the Raouche district, struck “a hotel room,” according to the Lebanese health ministry. An AFP photographer at the scene described one room on the fourth floor with shattered glass and charred walls, with security forces cordoning off the area. The hotel had remained untouched during previous conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah, which ended with a ceasefire in November 2024.
The Israeli military announced it had “begun an additional wave of strikes in Beirut,” focusing on the southern suburbs, a known Hezbollah stronghold. A subsequent statement detailed a “precise strike” targeting “key commanders” in the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm. The military accused the commanders of planning “terror attacks against the State of Israel and its civilians,” and vowed to continue eliminating what it termed “commanders of the Iranian terror regime wherever they operate.”
This escalation comes after Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle East conflict on Monday, when Hezbollah launched attacks against Israel in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during recent US-Israeli strikes. Israel has continued strikes targeting Hezbollah despite a 2024 ceasefire.
The conflict has rapidly spread across the region since the joint US-Israeli attack on Iranian leadership and armed forces on Saturday. Iran responded with missile and drone launches towards Israel and Gulf Arab states hosting US military bases. Drone attacks have also been reported in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Hezbollah’s leader has denounced Khamenei’s assassination as “the height of crime.” Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, condemned Hezbollah’s actions as “irresponsible” and announced an immediate ban on the group’s military activities.
On Monday, 52 people were reportedly killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s disaster management unit. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Israel from Hezbollah’s retaliatory fire, which the group stated was in response to Khamenei’s death and ongoing Israeli strikes since the November 2024 ceasefire.
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, vowed that Hezbollah would pay a “heavy price” and stated that its leader, Naim Qassem, was now a “marked target for elimination.”
Iran has indicated its willingness to continue fighting, reportedly stating it can “keep fighting for six months,” according to recent reports.