Explosion in Central Beirut
At approximately 01:30 local time, a significant explosion occurred in the Raouche neighbourhood, located in the heart of Beirut, Lebanon's capital.
The Israeli military targeted the four-star Ramada Plaza hotel, marking the first instance in the current conflict where Israeli airstrikes have struck Beirut's city centre—a vibrant coastal district known for its restaurants and hotels.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that the strike targeted a covert meeting of Iranian operatives inside the hotel.
The attack was sudden and without prior warning, causing residents and displaced individuals in the vicinity to rush to their windows and balconies to observe the aftermath. Pedestrians in the area, still active with Ramadan crowds, sought immediate shelter.
Context of the Conflict
Since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group and political movement, resumed a week prior, Lebanon has endured hundreds of Israeli strikes. These attacks have resulted in the destruction of entire buildings and the deaths of nearly 500 people, according to official sources.
The majority of strikes have concentrated on southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and the southern suburbs of Beirut—regions identified as Hezbollah strongholds and centers of Lebanon's Shia Muslim community.
However, the drone strike in Raouche deviated from this pattern, focusing on the fourth floor of the Ramada Plaza hotel, a high-rise establishment described in listings as providing "celebrity treatment with world-class service."
Details of the Strike and Casualties
The IDF stated that five individuals killed in the strike were members of Iran's elite Quds Force, the overseas operations division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Among those killed were a senior financial operative responsible for transferring funds to Hezbollah and commanders specializing in intelligence gathering.
Initial reports from the Lebanese health ministry indicated four fatalities and ten injuries resulting from the strike, though the identities of the victims were not disclosed.
Hezbollah has refrained from commenting on the strike or its targets, and Iranian authorities have also not issued statements.
Although the strike affected a limited section of the extensive hotel complex, bystanders sustained injuries, and widespread fear permeated the local community as residents confronted the reality of the conflict reaching their neighbourhood.
Local Reactions
"This is not an area where you expect something like this to happen of course we're scared," said 47-year-old Yahya, who was waiting for coffee at a local Starbucks on Monday.
"I come outside for my sanity but it's scary - you don't know who's standing next to you or in a building next to you. In the bombings they often give warnings but in the assassinations they don't, and the Israelis don't care about bystanders."
Yahya noted that while he rarely heard strikes targeting Beirut's southern neighbourhoods from his coastal apartment, the explosion on Sunday morning was loud enough to awaken him, shaking windows and shattering glass across Raouche.
At the parking area beneath the hotel, 33-year-old Mousa Khodour was working at a coffee kiosk. He did not initially notice the drone overhead, a common occurrence in Lebanon, but was thrown to the ground by the explosion.
"It was huge. The entire area shook," he said. "I also have my four kids sleeping over there [in a makeshift structure at the edge of the car park], so I ran to check on them and thank God they weren't wounded. They were crying."
While his children escaped injury, his cousin, also named Mousa, was wounded by shrapnel dispersed across the car park.
The 30-year-old cousin, a Syrian national who fled to Lebanon in 2013 due to the war in Syria, spoke to the BBC shortly after being discharged from hospital on Monday evening. He described a piece of shrapnel "the size of a chickpea" that penetrated his leg.
"I just remember the bang and the glass coming down. It was very painful," he said.
"We expected this to happen anywhere except for Raouche," he added. "Thank God it was my leg, not somewhere else."
Displacement and Shelter in Raouche
Despite the shock, some residents in Raouche were less surprised by the strike.
The luxury hotels in the area, which typically accommodate tourists and business travelers, are now predominantly housing families displaced by Israeli evacuation orders warning of impending military action.
The United Nations estimates that nearly 700,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon due to the renewed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated after Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader at the onset of the war involving Israel and the United States.
Israel has maintained near-daily strikes against Hezbollah across Lebanon since a ceasefire concluded a previous war in November 2024.
Many displaced individuals originate from Beirut's southern suburbs and have relocated northward within the capital seeking refuge.
One displaced woman staying at the Ramada with her children reported that smoke filled their room following the strike, prompting their evacuation via the emergency staircase.
Nearby, a 47-year-old man displaced from Tyre in southern Lebanon was observed affixing plastic bags over his car's shattered windscreen.
"We've been through a lot so we're used to it we're not scared," he said, with his son nodding beside him. "They are saying it was Iranians but we don't know."
Police and military personnel continued to investigate the scene days after the strike, focusing on the blackened and damaged corner room on the hotel's fourth floor.
Hotel and Investigation Details
Hotel management declined to comment on the incident.
However, a staff member informed the BBC that the third and fourth floors had been sealed off for police investigation, and displaced residents previously accommodated there were relocated. The employee noted that the hotel was large and busy, and neither he nor his colleagues knew who had occupied the specific room targeted but were aware of the reports.
An official source told the BBC that three Lebanese nationals had booked rooms on the third and fourth floors used by the men targeted in the strike.
The source added that the hotel was struck three times, but two of the munitions failed to detonate.
IDF Statement and Targeted Individuals
The IDF stated that the naval strike was based on "precise IDF intelligence" indicating that senior Quds Force officials from its Lebanon and Palestine Corps were "hiding in a civilian hotel."
The IDF named three key commanders killed in the strike: Majid Hassini, responsible for transferring funds to Iranian proxies in Lebanon; and senior intelligence figures Ali Reza Bi-Azar and Ahmad Rasouli.
Two additional Quds Force members, Hossein Ahmadlou and Abu Mohammad Ali, were also reported killed.
The IDF described the elimination of these individuals as a significant and necessary blow to the Iranian presence in Lebanon and to Hezbollah.
Broader Military and Political Context
This strike in Raouche was the second targeting a Beirut hotel within the past week and followed Israeli military warnings for Iranian government representatives in Lebanon to "leave immediately before they are targeted."
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam requested authorities to arrest and deport any Iranian Revolutionary Guards conducting military activities within Lebanon.
A senior Lebanese security official told that over 150 Iranian nationals, including diplomats and their families, had departed Lebanon following Israeli military threats.
Iran's foreign ministry later confirmed the temporary departure of Iranians from Beirut due to security concerns.
In its statement after the Raouche strike, the IDF affirmed it would "not allow the Iranian terror regime elements to establish themselves in Lebanon and will continue to precisely eliminate the commanders of the Iranian terror regime wherever they operate."
Current Situation and Perspectives
Despite the attack, life outside the hotel exhibited an uneasy normality, with passers-by observing the damage as traffic flowed along the busy road.
Mohamed Abbas, a displaced barber, recounted having been near four strikes in southern Lebanon the previous week before relocating to Raouche in search of safety.
"There is no safe place in Lebanon and what happened is proof that Israel doesn't have red lines - they strike, attack and kill wherever they want," he said.
For some displaced residents, the strike underscored the inescapability of the conflict.
"My house in the south was destroyed in the previous war, and my house in Dahieh [in southern Beirut] was destroyed in this war," said a 23-year-old man standing beneath the Ramada Plaza.
"The war is expanding more and more."
Additional reporting by Angie Mrad
