First aid responders gather at a Ramada hotel that was targeted by an Israeli strike, in Beirut’s seaside Rawche area, on March 8.
At least four people were killed when an Israeli strike hit an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in central Beirut early on Sunday, with Israel saying it targeted Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ( IRGC) commanders operating in the Lebanese capital.
The attack marked the first strike to hit the heart of the capital since
Ten people were also injured in the strike in Beirut’s Raouche area, the health ministry said in a statement.
Israel said it targeted key commanders of Iran’s elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards but did not name them.
“The commanders of the Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps operated to advance terror attacks against the state of Israel and its civilians, while operating simultaneously for the IRGC in Iran,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
The hotel was housing displaced people fleeing the war in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, and some were seen leaving the building for fear of further airstrikes.
Several dozen Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) officers have fled Beirut on March 6 fearing they will be targeted, two senior Israeli defense officials and a third source with knowledge of the situation told Axios
The Iranian officers were mostly members of the elite Quds Force, working as military advisers to Hezbollah with significant influence over the group’s operations
- Israeli officials say the IRGC’s role in Hezbollah’s military planning grew substantially over the last two years, as Israel systematically killed off many of the militia’s most experienced commanders — leaving Tehran to fill the void.
- Hezbollah’s degraded ranks were reluctant to open a new front with Israel, but ultimately joined the war on March 1 under strong pressure from Iran, an Israeli official claimed.
Since the war began Saturday, Israel has killed the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force Lebanon unit in a strike in Tehran and his deputy in a strike in Beirut.
On Tuesday, the IDF issued a public ultimatum to Iranian regime representatives still in Lebanon, warning it would “target them wherever they are found” if they didn’t leave within 24 hours..
