Beirut Hotel Strike: Israel & Lebanon Toll Climbs

Israel struck a hotel in central Beirut, marking the first attack on the city centre since escalating conflict with Hezbollah. Lebanon reported nearly 400 people have been killed over the past week amid the ongoing hostilities.

Lebanon Drawn into Wider Conflict

Lebanon became further embroiled in the Middle East conflict on Monday, following an attack by Iran-backed Hezbollah in response to the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes. Israel has continued strikes targeting Hezbollah despite a 2024 ceasefire, launching multiple waves of attacks across Lebanon and deploying ground troops to border areas.

Hezbollah stated it repeatedly targeted northern Israel, including a naval base in Haifa and a drone swarm towards Nahariya. Israel’s military reported two soldiers killed in combat in southern Lebanon, the first deaths of its troops since the offensive began on March 2.

The Israeli military reiterated its call for Lebanese residents to evacuate areas south of the Litani River.

Beirut Hotel Strike and Rising Death Toll

Lebanon’s health minister, Rakan Nassereddine, said Israeli strikes have killed 394 people in Lebanon over the past week, including 83 children and 42 women. Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli airstrike hit a hotel room in Beirut’s city centre, killing four people and wounding ten others.

“I came here from the southern suburbs to be safe with my children and the strike hit,” said Abu Hussein, a 45-year-old taxi driver, showing his damaged car. “There is no safe place,” he said.

The strike targeting central Beirut was the first since Monday. An AFP photographer at the scene described a room on the fourth floor of the seafront hotel with shattered glass and charred walls, with security forces cordoning off the site.

Israel’s military said the strike targeted key commanders in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, its foreign operations arm. A security official at the scene, speaking anonymously, said Hezbollah-linked rescuers recovered three bodies from the hotel.

The Raouche area, a major tourist destination, had remained untouched during the previous Israel-Hezbollah war which ended with a ceasefire in November 2024. The area’s hotels are currently overcrowded with displaced people who have fled their homes elsewhere in Lebanon.

Iranian Evacuations and Further Strikes

Lebanon’s government on Thursday banned any activity by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. A Lebanese official, requesting anonymity, said a total of 117 Iranians, including diplomats and embassy staff, were evacuated on a Russian plane overnight from Saturday to Sunday, heading for Turkey.

In Sir al-Gharbiyeh, a strike above the Litani River killed 11 people, including children, with rescue efforts ongoing. Two Israeli strikes also targeted the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in the south, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

Israel’s army stated it has struck “over 600” Hezbollah targets and killed 200 members of the group in the past week. Lebanon’s health minister insisted that “these are civilians being targeted, not, as they claim, military personnel and military installations”, adding that nine rescuers had been killed since the start of the latest war.

On Friday night, a failed Israeli commando operation to find the remains of airman Ron Arad, missing since 1986, killed 41 people in eastern Lebanon.