Israel Strikes Hotel in Central Beirut Amid Escalating Conflict with Hezbollah

Beirut. Israel struck a hotel in central Beirut on Sunday. This is the first attack in the city center since a new war began with Hezbollah.

According to Lebanese officials, approximately 400 people died in Lebanon last week. Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East conflict after the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah attacked Israel on Monday, following the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a joint US-Israel operation.

Israel, which has continued targeting Hezbollah despite a 2024 ceasefire, launched several attacks in Lebanon this week and deployed ground troops to the border area.

The Hezbollah group stated on Sunday, "Hezbollah has repeatedly targeted northern Israel, including attacking the naval base in Haifa and sending a swarm of drones towards the city of Nahariya."

Meanwhile, the Israeli army reported that two of its soldiers were killed in fighting in southern Lebanon. They are the first two soldiers to die since the latest escalation began on March 2.

Israel also reiterated its call for Lebanese residents occupying hundreds of square kilometers to leave the area south of the Litani River. Lebanon's Health Minister Rakan Nasir al-Din stated that 394 people, including 83 children and 42 women, were killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon over the past week.

On the same day, the Ministry of Health reported that four people were killed and 10 others injured in an Israeli airstrike in the center of Beirut city.

No Safe Place

"I came from the southern suburbs to stay safe with my children, but the attack happened there," said 45-year-old taxi driver Abu Hussein, pointing to his damaged car. "There is no safe place here," he lamented.

This was the first attack targeting central Beirut since Monday. An AFP photographer saw a room on the fourth floor with shattered glass and burnt walls, while security forces cordoned off the scene.

The Israeli army stated it carried out a precise strike targeting commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, the army's foreign operations branch. A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers carried three dead bodies from the hotel.

The Raouche area, which remained untouched by Israeli attacks during the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah that ended with a ceasefire in November 2024, is a major tourist destination.

This area on the Mediterranean coast hosts dozens of hotels, which are now filled with displaced people who fled from other parts of Lebanon.