At least four people were killed in a targeted strike against key commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps operating in Beirut, the IDF said early Sunday morning.
The strike hit an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in central Beirut early on Sunday. Ten people were also injured in the attack on Beirut’s Raouche area, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.
The hotel was said to be 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.
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.
Earlier on Saturday, the IDF announced that it had begun a new wave of strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut, adding separately that it had destroyed the rocket launcher used to target northern Israel.
Lebanon’s Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed also said on Saturday that 454,000 people have registered as displaced this week, as Israel continues to strike Lebanon, noting that around 100,000 remained in government shelters.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also warned the Lebanese government of “disastrous consequences” should it fail to enforce the ceasefire agreement and disarm Hezbollah, during a Saturday address.
“I repeat to the Lebanese government, your responsibility is to enforce the ceasefire agreement and disarm Hezbollah,” he said. “If you do not do this, there will be disastrous consequences for Lebanon.”
“Take your fate into your own hands.”
Tobias Holcman and Reuters contributed to this report.