BEIRUT: Israel’s military said it struck Iranian commanders in the Lebanese capital early on Sunday, expanding the scope of strikes to the heart of Beirut after days of strikes that have left nearly 400 people dead. The drone strike was the first within the city limits of Lebanon’s capital since Israel-Hezbollah hostilities resumed last week, and came amid heavy bombardment on Beirut’s southern suburbs and the country’s south and east.
Lebanon says four people were killed in the strike, part of a rapidly rising death toll that has reached 394 people, the health ministry said on Sunday, including at least 83 children and 42 women. Lebanon’s health ministry does not otherwise distinguish between civilians and military personnel.
Some of the deadliest bombardment took place in the last two days in eastern Lebanon, when 41 people were killed during a rare Israeli airborne raid deep into Lebanese territory. The Raouche neighbourhood on Beirut’s seafront is typically a tourist attraction, but in recent days has hosted people displaced by strikes, some of whom stayed at the Ramada hotel.
The strike appeared to hit a corner suite on the hotel’s fourth floor. A Reuters reporter observed the windows of the suite were shattered and surrounding facade blackened. Ten people were also injured in the attack on Beirut’s Raouche area, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Last week, Israel said it had killed the commander of Iran’s Quds Force in Lebanon, Daoud Ali Zadeh, in a strike in Tehran. It said a strike on Beirut’s suburbs had killed Reza Khuza’i, whom it said was head of Hezbollah’s weapons build-up and chief of staff of the Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps. — Reuters
