The group had been assisting Hezbollah and Hamas by facilitating financial transfers and intelligence cooperation.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Five commanders from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force were killed overnight in Beirut when an Israeli Navy strike targeted a hotel where they were staying, the Israel Defense Forces said Sunday, saying the terrorists were involved in supporting Hezbollah and Hamas.

The military said the officers served in Quds Force units responsible for activities connected to Lebanon and Palestinian groups.

According to Israeli officials, the group had been assisting Hezbollah and Hamas by facilitating financial transfers and intelligence cooperation.

The strike hit a room at the Ramada hotel in Beirut’s seaside Rawche district, the IDF said.

The military said it used precision-guided weapons and conducted aerial surveillance before the attack to reduce the risk to civilians.

The commanders were identified as Majid Hassini, whom the IDF described as a senior financial operative in the Lebanon Corps 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, an intelligence operative in the Lebanon Corps; and Abu Muhammad Ali, identified as Hezbollah’s representative in the Palestine Corps.

In a statement issued before releasing the names, the Israeli military accused Tehran of embedding its operatives within civilian areas.

“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.

Lebanese officials said at least four people were killed in the strike, while Lebanon’s health ministry reported 10 wounded.

An AFP photographer at the seafront hotel reported shattered windows and heavy damage concentrated in a single room while Lebanese security forces blocked access to the building.

The hotel had been housing civilians displaced by fighting in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Some residents were seen leaving the building after the strike out of concern that additional attacks could follow.

The strike came after Israel warned Iranian regime officials in Lebanon last week that they could be targeted if they remained in the country.

Reuters reported Saturday that more than 150 Iranian nationals, including diplomats and their families, left Lebanon following the warning.

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Nasrallah and Iran’s Quds chief discussed the damage an all-out war would do to Hezbollah and the effects a war would have on Iran.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

After a meeting with the head of Iran’s Quds Forces, Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah declared that his terror group would be prepared to fight alone in a full-scale war with Israel, as reported by Reuters.

In late February,  Quds chief Esmail Qaani met with  Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut for the third time since the beginning of Israel’s war with Hamas on October 7th.

Amid an escalation of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the two discussed the damage an all-out war would do to Iran’s proxy Hezbollah as well as the implications a war would have on Iran, with the risk of greater involvement of the United States in a broader conflict.

In addition, Tehran is concerned about potential strikes on Iran’s nuclear installations from the US or Israel.

Nasrallah assured Qaani that he didn’t want Iran to get involved in the conflict and that Hezbollah could fight Israel on its own.

“This is our fight,” Nasrallah said, according to one source.

Since October 7th, Hezbollah, in solidarity with Hamas, has launched missiles into Israel with the IDF retaliating and hitting terrorist targets in Lebanon.

The recent escalation in the number and intensity of strikes has led Israel to declare that even though it doesn’t seek a full-scale war with Lebanon, the IDF is prepared for that scenario.

The meeting between Qaani and Nasrallah points to Iran’s conflict between waging war with Israel and the West through various proxies, while being reluctant to engage directly with Israel and the United States, not least because it wishes to protect its nuclear program from scrutiny or attack.

Although Hezbollah declared it would conform to any ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel and also stop firing, US special envoy Amos Hochstein has indicated that such an agreement wouldn’t automatically mean a cessation of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

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