War expands to central Beirut as Israeli strike kills Iranians in luxury hotel

About 01:30 in the morning a loud explosion tore through the Raouche neighbourhood in central Beirut when an Israeli strike hit the four-star Ramada Plaza hotel.

“- Published It was about 01:30 in the morning when a loud explosion tore through the Raouche neighbourhood in the heart of the Lebanese capital Beirut”

BBC

The strike marked the first time in this war that Israel's bombing campaign struck the city centre.

BBC

The strike targeted the hotel's fourth floor and came without warning.

Initial reporting by the Lebanese health ministry said four people had been killed and 10 injured, though it did not identify them.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the men killed were five operatives from Iran's Quds Force.

The IDF named Majid Hassani, Alireza Bi-Azar, Ahmad Rasouli, Hossein Ahmadlou and Abu Mohammad Ali and said the strike was conducted by its navy following "precise IDF intelligence".

BBC

The IDF described Hassani as responsible for transferring funds to the [Iranian] regime's proxies in Lebanon.

The IDF said the killings were "a significant and necessary blow to the Iranian presence in Lebanon and to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation."

Iran denied the IDF's account and its UN mission called the attack "the cowardly terrorist assassination of four diplomats of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

“- Published It was about 01:30 in the morning when a loud explosion tore through the Raouche neighbourhood in the heart of the Lebanese capital Beirut”

BBC

Iran's permanent representative Amir-Saeid Iravani later confirmed the deaths of Hassani, Bi-Azar, Rasouli and Ahmadlou and identified them as the Iranian embassy's second secretary, third secretary, attaché and a person assigned to the mission, condemning the strike as a "heinous crime."

There is a direct discrepancy between the Lebanese health ministry's four casualties, the IDF's claim of five Quds Force members killed, and Iran's identification of four embassy staff.

The strike came amid a rapid escalation: Lebanon has been hit with hundreds of Israeli strikes since the war between Israel and Hezbollah resumed a week ago.

Many strikes have toppled entire buildings and nearly 500 people have been killed, according to official figures.

BBC

The United Nations estimates nearly 700,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced.

The fighting has focused on southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut's southern suburbs, and luxury hotels in Raouche are now housing displaced families.

Locals and displaced residents described fear, injuries from shrapnel and the sense that "the war is expanding more and more."