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Israel carried out an air strike on a hotel in central Beirut on Sunday, marking the first attack on the city centre since the outbreak of the renewed war with Hezbollah, as Lebanon said almost 400 people had been killed over the past week.
Lebanon was drawn into the broader Middle East conflict on Monday after Hezbollah — backed by Iran — launched attacks on Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei during joint US-Israeli strikes.
Israel, which has continued targeting Hezbollah despite a 2024 ceasefire, launched several waves of air strikes across Lebanon this week and deployed ground forces into areas along the border.
Hezbollah said on Sunday it had repeatedly struck northern Israel, including attacks on a naval base in Haifa and launching a swarm of drones towards Nahariya.
The Israeli military reported that two of its soldiers were killed in fighting in southern Lebanon — the first Israeli combat deaths since the latest offensive began on March 2.
The army also renewed its warning for Lebanese residents to evacuate areas south of the Litani River, which covers hundreds of square kilometres.
Lebanon’s health minister Rakan Nassereddine said Israeli strikes had killed 394 people over the past week, including 83 children and 42 women.
Meanwhile, Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said 517,000 displaced people had registered with a government platform, including 117,228 currently staying in state shelters.
Earlier on Sunday, the health ministry reported that an Israeli air strike hit Beirut’s city centre, targeting “a hotel room”, killing four people and injuring 10 others.
‘No safe place’
“I came here from the southern suburbs to be safe with my children and the strike hit,” said a 45-year-old taxi driver identified as Abu Hussein as he stood beside his damaged vehicle.
“There is no safe place.”
An AFP photographer at the seafront hotel saw a room on the fourth floor with shattered windows and charred walls, while security forces sealed off the area.
Israel’s military said it had “conducted a precise strike” targeting five commanders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force who were allegedly meeting at the hotel.
A security official at the scene, speaking anonymously, said rescuers linked to Hezbollah recovered three bodies from the site.
The strike occurred in the Raouche area, a well-known tourist destination along the Mediterranean coast. The neighbourhood, which hosts numerous hotels now filled with displaced families, had not been targeted during the previous Israel–Hezbollah war before the 2024 Israel–Hezbollah ceasefire.
Iranians evacuated
Lebanon’s government on Thursday banned all activities linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a major supporter of Hezbollah.
A Lebanese official said that 117 Iranian nationals — including diplomats and embassy staff — were evacuated from Beirut overnight aboard a Russian aircraft bound for Turkey.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi also accused Hezbollah of carrying out a “blatant attack” on Cyprus after authorities in Nicosia said an Iranian-made drone that struck a British base on the island on Monday was likely launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon.
In southern Lebanon, a strike on Sir al-Gharbiyeh killed 11 people, including children, according to the health ministry, while rescue teams searched for victims trapped beneath the rubble.
Standing beside a destroyed house, resident Ali Youssef Taha said “a family was sleeping inside” when Israeli warplanes bombed the building, describing the strike as “a massacre”.
Later on Sunday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported two Israeli strikes on the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp.
Another strike earlier in the day on Tefahta, north of the Litani River, killed six people, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israel’s army said it had struck more than 600 Hezbollah targets and killed around 200 fighters in the past week, adding in a later statement that more than 100 air strikes had been conducted across Lebanon targeting the group.
However, Minister Nassereddine insisted that civilians were being targeted rather than military sites, adding that nine rescue workers had been killed since the escalation began.
