Israeli airstrikes pounded targets across Lebanon on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people and prompting fresh evacuation orders in Beirut and dozens of towns nationwide, as the conflict with Hezbollah intensifies. 

Lebanese state media said Israeli forces bombed the Comfort Hotel on the border between Hazmieh and Baabda, part of greater Beirut. The strike occurred without prior warning, raising speculation that it may have been an attempted assassination.

Lebanese army officials told Al Jazeera that at least four people were wounded in the strike, including one in critical condition.

The attack triggered precautionary measures nearby. The Baabda courthouse was evacuated after reports that an adjacent building had been threatened with attack, according to the state-run National News Agency. 

“The evacuation of the Baabda courthouse is a precautionary measure taken in response to certain concerns, the veracity of which is currently being verified,” Justice Minister Adel Nassar wrote on X.

Further strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. 

In the eastern city of Baalbek, at least five people were killed and 15 wounded when a residential building in the al-Matraba neighborhood was struck. 

Separate airstrikes in the Mount Lebanon towns of Aramoun and Saadiyat reportedly killed at least six people and wounded eight.

The Israeli army also carried out at least five new airstrikes in southern Lebanon within an hour, while ground forces continued advancing in the border area, according to a correspondent in the region. Villages targeted in air raids included Jarmaq in Jezzine, Qoussair in Marjayoun, Tayr Falsayh in Sour, Beit Lif in Bint Jbeil, and Wadi Berghoz in Hasbaya. Artillery fire struck Arnoun in Nabatieh and Khiyam in Marjayoun, while debris from an interceptor missile fell on Houla, also in Marjayoun district.

On the ground, Israeli troops were reported advancing toward an area known as “Azrael,” south of the border town of Kfar Shuba in Hasbaya district, approaching from the Bastara farm area on Lebanese territory. The Israeli military announced it was reinforcing its presence along the western sector of the border and deploying its 146th Division to the area.

Hezbollah, for its part, said in the early hours of Wednesday that it had fired rockets at Israeli forces in the northern Israeli town of Metulla after launching a missile attack on a naval base in Haifa. The Israeli military said it had identified several projectiles launched from Lebanese territory, most of which were intercepted, except for one that fell in an open area.

Hezbollah also launched a barrage of missiles at an Israeli post on the occupied Hamames hill near Khiyam in southern Lebanon, according to local reports. The site is one of six positions Israel has continued to occupy on Lebanese territory since the November 27, 2024 cease-fire that ended the previous round of open warfare between the two sides.

Since Hezbollah formally joined the current phase of the conflict on Monday, the Israeli military says it has struck more than 250 targets in Lebanon, including 100 in the past 24 hours. Targets have included what the military described as senior operatives, rocket launchers, weapons depots, and command headquarters belonging to Hezbollah and other armed groups.

Overnight, the Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah command center in the Nabatiyeh area, along with additional sites in southern Lebanon. It also reported destroying, within an hour, a rocket launcher used to fire three rockets at Tel Aviv and Haifa the previous night.

In southern Lebanon, the military estimates that about 300,000 civilians have fled their villages following Israeli evacuation orders. Overnight, the army issued new warnings for more than a dozen additional villages.

In a further escalation, the Israeli army declared it would “not tolerate any presence of representatives of the Iranian … regime in Lebanon,” giving them 24 hours to leave or face attack.