At least four people were killed early Sunday when an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in the heart of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The attack marked the first Israeli strike on central Beirut since Israel-Hezbollah hostilities resumed last week and prompted fears the scope of Israel's strikes would expand outside areas where Hezbollah has traditionally operated.
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 ... attacks against the state of Israel and its civilians, while operating simultaneously for the IRGC in Iran," the Israeli military said in a statement.
Lebanon was pulled into the widening U.S.-Israel war on Iran Monday after the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah fired rockets and drones into Israel. Israel responded with heavy strikes across southern and eastern Lebanon and near Beirut.
