Navy strike on Beirut hotel overnight killed five top IRGC commanders, IDF says
Military says the five were members of Quds Force’s Palestine and Lebanon corps, were involved in aiding Hezbollah and Hamas; targeted hotel was housing people displaced by war
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that five top commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in an Israeli Navy strike targeting a hotel room in Beirut overnight.
The IDF, in a statement, said the commanders who were killed “while hiding in a civilian hotel” were members of the Quds Force, the IRGC’s extraterritorial arm, in its Palestine and Lebanon corps, and were involved in aiding Hezbollah and Hamas with funds and intelligence.
“The Iranian terror regime systematically operates among civilian populations in both Iran and Lebanon, cynically exploiting residents and using them as human shields to further terrorist objectives,” the IDF said in a statement prior to publishing the names of the targets.
The five were named as:
- Majid Hassini, a senior moneyman in the Lebanon Corps, who the IDF says was responsible for transferring funds from Iran to proxy groups in Lebanon, including Hezbollah and Hamas
- Ali Reza Bi-Azar, chief of intelligence in the Lebanon Corps
- Ahmad Rasouli, chief of intelligence in the Palestine Corps
- Hossein Ahmadlou, a lower-ranking intelligence operative in the Lebanon Corps
- Abu Muhammad Ali, Hezbollah’s representative in the Palestine Corps
The military said it took various steps to minimize the risk to civilians, including the use of precision weaponry and aerial surveillance.
Lebanese officials had said the strike killed at least four people at a Ramada hotel. An AFP photographer at the bombed seafront hotel saw shattered windows and heavy damage to one room while security forces sealed off the area.
Last week, the Israeli military issued an unusual threat against Iranian regime officials in Lebanon, warning that they will be targeted if they do not leave the country.
Reuters reported on Saturday that following those threats, more than 150 Iranian nationals, including diplomats and their families, had left Lebanon.
Days after the US and Israel launched strikes on the Iranian regime on February 28, Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah began firing missiles and drones at Israel, pulling Lebanon into the war.
In response, Israel launched an offensive aimed at pushing Hezbollah away from the border and eliminating its threat, and has expanded its presence in southern Lebanon. Last week, the Israeli military issued an unusual threat against Iranian regime officials in Lebanon, warning that they will be targeted if they do not leave the country within 24 hours.
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.
Ten people were also injured in the attack, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.
Last week, Israel said it had killed Daoud Alizadeh, the acting commander of the Lebanon Corps, in a strike in Tehran. Another strike in Beirut last week killed the chief of staff at the Lebanon Corps, Reza Khazaei.
On Saturday, Hezbollah launched many dozens of rockets and drones from Lebanon at northern Israel, with no reports of injuries. Meanwhile, the IDF launched a wave of airstrikes on Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh district, a Hezbollah stronghold.
The military also reiterated an evacuation warning it had issued on Thursday for the district’s four major neighborhoods.
The Lebanese government, which has claimed it is working to disarm Hezbollah, has slammed the terror group’s renewed attacks on Israel, accusing it of dragging Lebanon into a regional war.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 294 people have died in Israeli airstrikes over the past week, prompting Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to warn of a looming “humanitarian disaster.”
Israel regularly struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon following a 2024 agreement, accusing the terror group of ceasefire violations, and continued to hold on to five border posts inside Lebanon, citing security needs. It has now expanded beyond those points.
The November 2024 ceasefire ended a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, which started when the terror group began firing missiles and drones into northern Israel one day after its ally Hamas launched a devastating attack on southern Israel that set off the war in Gaza.
The Times of Israel Community.