Israel’s military said it struck Iranian commanders in the Lebanese capital early Sunday, expanding its offensive into the heart of Beirut after days of strikes that have killed nearly 400 people.
The drone strike was the first within the city limits of Lebanon’s capital since the Israel-Hezbollah war resumed last week and came amid heavy bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs and the south and east of the country.
Israel said it targeted key commanders of Iran’s elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards but did not name them.
“Commanders of the Lebanese Corps of the Quds Force carried out operations to lead terrorist attacks against the State of Israel and its citizens, while simultaneously working for the IRGC in Iran,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
Four people died in the latest strike: Lebanon
Lebanon said four people were killed in the strike, bringing the rapidly rising death toll to 394, the health ministry said on Sunday, including at least 83 children and 42 women.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health does not distinguish between civilians and military personnel.
Israel’s military has so far killed about 200 Hezbollah militants, spokesman Nadav Shoshani told an online briefing. Hezbollah has not announced a tariff for its fighters.
Lebanon was drawn into an extension of the US-Israeli war with Iran on Monday after Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah opened fire on Israel. Israel responded with heavy attacks in southern and eastern Lebanon and near Beirut.
The deadliest recent strikes have been in eastern Lebanon
East Lebanon has seen some of the deadliest bombings in the past two days, with 41 people killed during an Israeli airstrike deep into Lebanese territory.
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Beirut’s seaside neighborhood of Rouche is typically a tourist attraction, but in recent days has hosted people displaced by strikes, some of whom are staying at the Ramada Hotel.
The strike appeared to hit a corner suite on the fourth floor of the hotel. A Reuters reporter noticed that the suite’s windows were broken and the surrounding facade blackened.
Ten people were injured in the attack on Beirut’s Rouche area, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.
Khalil Abou Mohammed was staying in a building across the street after being moved earlier this week.
She showed Reuters blood-stained bed covers as her three children, who were injured in the strike and are being treated at a nearby hospital, need surgery.
“We came to stay here, and as you can see, we were sleeping at 3:30 (in the morning) and the strike hit,” Abou Mohammed told Reuters.
Israel has warned Iranian officials in Lebanon
Last week, Israel said it had killed Daoud Ali Zadeh, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force in Lebanon, in a strike in Tehran.
It said the strike on Beirut’s suburbs killed Reza Khuzai, who it said was Hezbollah’s head of weapons production and head of the Lebanese Corps of the Quds Force.
Israel has warned any Iranian representatives in Lebanon to leave immediately or risk being targeted, and earlier this week struck an area near the Iranian embassy in Lebanon.
Dozens of Iranian nationals have defected in recent days, and the Lebanese government has ordered authorities to arrest and deport any Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon, although it is unclear if they have done so.
Mahmoud Kmati, a senior Hezbollah official, denied that Iranian troops were stationed in Lebanon.
Pope Leo urges an end to the bombing, calls for dialogue
Pope Leo said on Sunday that news of deep turmoil continued to pour in from Iran and across the Middle East, urging an end to the violence and renewing efforts to open space for dialogue.
As fighting escalated into the ninth day of the US-Israeli offensive on Iran, the first US pope warned that the conflict was fueling fear and hatred and expressed concern that it could spread further.
“In addition to the episodes of violence and destruction and the widespread climate of hatred and fear, there is also growing concern that the conflict may spread and other countries in the region, including beloved Lebanon, may once again sink into instability,” Leo said at the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.
“Let us make our humble prayer to the Lord that the roar of the bombs may stop, the weapons may be silenced and the space for dialogue where the voice of the people may be heard,” he said.
The Vatican’s top diplomat warned on Wednesday that the US-Israeli strikes had undermined international law and said nations did not have the right to launch “preventive wars”, an unusually direct criticism of military operations.
-Reporting by Laila Bassam, Ahmed Kerdi and Hatem Maher; Writing by Maya Gebeli; Edited by Franklin Paul, Diane Croft and Bernadette Baum
(tags to translate)Beirut
