BEIRUT: At least four people were killed when an Israeli strike hit an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in central Beirut, Lebanon’s health ministry said, the first strike to hit the heart of the capital since Israel-Hezbollah hostilities resumed last week.
Ten people were also injured in the strike in Beirut’s Raouche area, the health ministry said in a statement.
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.
No further details were immediately available. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Lebanon was pulled into the widening US-Israel war with Iran on Monday after the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah fired rockets and drones into Israel. Israel responded with heavy strikes across southern and eastern Lebanon and near Beirut.
Lebanon says four killed in Israeli strike on hotel in Beirut
https://arab.news/vyzfm
Lebanon says four killed in Israeli strike on hotel in Beirut
- Hotel was housing displaced people fleeing the war in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs
The art of war: fears for masterpieces on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi
- UAE paid more than €1 billion to borrow priceless works, but experts in France want them back
PARIS: The Middle East war has raised fears for the safety of priceless masterpieces on loan from France to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the museum’s only foreign branch.
The Abu Dhabi museum, which opened in 2017, has so far escaped damage from nearly 1,800 Iranian drone and missile strikes launched since the conflict erupted on Feb. 28.
However, concerns are mounting in France. “The works must be removed,” said Didier Selles, who helped broker the original agreement between France and the UAE.
French journal La Tribune de l’Art echoed that alarm. “The Louvre’s works in Abu Dhabi must be secured!” it said.
France’s culture ministry said French authorities were “in close and regular contact with the authorities of the UAE to ensure the protection of the works loaned by France.”
Under the agreement with the UAE, France agreed to provide expertise, lend works of art and organize exhibitions, in return for €1 billion, including €400 million for licensing the use of the Louvre name. The deal was extended in 2021 to 2047 for an additional €165 million.
Works on loan include paintings by Rembrandt and Chardin, Classical statues of Isis, Roman sarcophagi and Islamic masterpieces: such as the Pyxis of Al-Mughira.
A Louvre Abu Dhabi source said the museum was designed to protect collections from both security threats and natural disasters.
