Lebanon source says Israel attacked hotel near Beirut, injuring five

Israel attacked a hotel in a suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut, injuring five people, one critically the hotel owner told dpa on Wednesday.

The critically injured person is a woman who worked at the hotel’s reception desk. The hotel had been sheltering people who had fled Israel’s attacks in the Beirut area, the owner said.

Unlike many of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon, no evacuation warning was issued beforehand. This led to speculation that the strike may have been intended to specifically target a high-ranking member of the Hezbollah militia.

However, the hotel is not located in one of the suburbs where Hezbollah has a particularly strong presence and large following.

The Israeli military announced in the morning that it had begun striking “Hezbollah infrastructure” in Beirut, saying further details would follow. Fighter jets continued to bomb the southern suburbs of the capital throughout the morning, according to eyewitnesses.

Israel also continued its attacks in other parts of Lebanon. An airstrike on a residential building in Baalbek in the east killed six people and injured 15 others, according to official reports.

Strikes in the coastal town of Saadiyat and other locations killed six people and injured eight more, according to the health ministry.

In recent days, more than 40 people have been killed across Lebanon as a result of Israeli strikes.