Among the ruins of a hotel room, hardly any objects remain intact. The mattress has disintegrated, its springs transformed into sharp, jagged weapons. Two shattered suitcases have scattered their contents across the gray rubble.
Not a trace remains of the walls—much less of those that once separated them from the cool breeze that now blows even stronger from outside. Amid the destruction from the Israeli strike that shook the foundations of the Comfort Hotel in Baabda, a Christian town on the outskirts of Beirut, a small image of the Virgin Mary remains standing. No one dares to move it.
It belonged to the hotel’s receptionist, who slept on the first floor during the week. For the past few days, she had been sharing her time with about 10 displaced people from various parts of Lebanon. Now, she is recovering in the hospital.
“I still don’t understand what happened,” George Dagher, a hotel employee, told The Media Line. He spoke to the press like an automaton, repeatedly expressing his incomprehension. “This is the first time something like this has happened to us, and we are surprised,” he said.
The Comfort Hotel was an unassuming guesthouse on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital that had gone unnoticed for 60 years—until early Tuesday morning, when an Israeli airstrike hit the building and damaged its first and second floors. Israeli strikes continued across Lebanon throughout the night and day, with the heaviest activity reported in the south and east of the country and in the southern suburbs of the capital.
At least 72 people have died, and some 437 have been wounded. The strike on the Comfort Hotel drew particular attention because it hit an area where locals said there was no visible Hezbollah presence.
Baabda is predominantly Christian and home to several embassies. Seven hundred meters from the site of the strike, which resulted in no fatalities, lies the Lebanese Presidential Palace.
“This will ultimately lead us to a civil war,” Joseph, another hotel employee, told The Media Line. He had the night off on Tuesday. His colleague, who was at the hotel at the time of the strike, still doesn’t feel able to talk about it.
This will ultimately lead us to a civil war
“The spread of attacks throughout Lebanon will lead us to a situation of civil conflict,” Dagher said. In just 48 hours, strikes have hit parts of Lebanese territory beyond areas commonly associated with Hezbollah. The widening scope has fueled anxiety among residents, many of whom say they feel unsafe anywhere.
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The spread of attacks throughout Lebanon will lead us to a situation of civil conflict
None of the 15 guests who were at the Comfort Hotel remains there. “They were all displaced people, children and the elderly,” Dagher said. Most had already sought refuge there during the 2024 war.
“We are very careful about who stays here, and we check their IDs,” he added, noting that they did not take in any young Shiite men, who are more likely to be members of Hezbollah and pose a risk to the other guests.
Beyond strikes on areas with a strong Hezbollah presence—such as the one in Baalbek, in the Bekaa Valley, which killed eight people, including two girls—the Israeli army expanded the scope of its offensive against Lebanon overnight. Before striking Baabda, Israeli warplanes attacked Aramoun, in the Aley district, and Saadiyat, in Shouf—areas with a larger Druze population.
The Ministry of Health reported six deaths in the two attacks, which also left eight others wounded.
Israeli air operations have continued across multiple parts of the country, while reports from the south have also focused on developments on the ground and in official statements. Tuesday’s evacuation of more than 50 villages and towns has allowed Israel to establish what it describes as a security line in southern Lebanon as it seeks to expand its buffer zone.
The Israeli army has reported that two of its soldiers were wounded after an anti-tank missile was fired in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has also claimed responsibility for several attacks against Israeli soldiers on Lebanese territory following the acceleration of Wednesday’s ground invasion.
Lebanese media reported that an Israeli battalion occupied the government hospital in Mais al-Jabal, Marjayoun, in southern Lebanon, this morning.
At the same time, public warnings issued by the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, have added to the uncertainty for civilians trying to decide where to go. “Residents of southern Lebanon must immediately move north of the Litani River,” he declared this afternoon, calling for the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
More than 80,000 Lebanese have already been displaced from their homes and are taking refuge in hundreds of temporary shelters opened in schools or pavilions. Among the internally displaced are 18,000 children, according to UNICEF. Of the dozens of fatalities in less than three days, at least seven are children.
“No child should be killed or suffer the physical and emotional consequences of violence for the rest of their life,” said Marcoluigi Corsi, UNICEF representative in Lebanon. The Israeli army estimates that some 300,000 Lebanese civilians have evacuated their villages in the south of the country following its order to leave.
Over two days, Israeli troops have attacked more than 250 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including 100 in the last day, they said. The Shiite group claimed responsibility for 13 attacks against Israel on Tuesday and continued launching rockets and suicide drones at Israeli cities, such as Tel Aviv and Haifa.
At midday, Hezbollah carried out a series of simultaneous attacks with kamikaze drones against the Tel Hashomer base, 120 kilometers from the border, the Haifa naval base, and the Ramat David base, using a squadron of suicide drones.
In Israel, there were no fatalities and minimal damage, as many of these launches were intercepted before impact. On the Lebanese side of the border, however, hundreds of structures were damaged or destroyed in the strikes, according to local reports.
Since the strike on the Comfort Hotel, its staff has been working to restore a semblance of normalcy. Access to the hotel is clear, with shattered glass swept aside. A group of young men is working to secure the building’s structure.
“We’re not political people; we’re very far from Hezbollah,” Dagher said, still trying to understand the reason for their tragedy. From the balconies of adjacent buildings, residents listlessly and resignedly throw broken objects into the void.
Across the street, another hotel is installing new windows and doors. The Lebanese don’t stop to lament.
As the people of this country, we are tired of war after war in our land; truly, we want to rest
“As the people of this country, we are tired of war after war in our land; truly, we want to rest,” this employee of the Comfort Hotel pleads clearly.