Lebanon’s coastal gem functions simultaneously as a vibrant cultural and nightlife ‘Hot Spot’ as well as a high-risk area due to intense geopolitical tensions.
By Motti Verses
For about $100 a night including breakfast, you can become a guest at the Ramada Plaza, a relatively modern hotel with about 144 rooms and suites in an approximately 18-story building overlooking the promenade and the Mediterranean Sea. Yet it is doubtful that the attractive price alone would tempt many travelers to stay there nowdays, as the hotel stands in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, facing the Pigeon Rocks, one of the city’s most famous landmarks – two massive rock formations rising from the sea opposite the Corniche promenade.
A few days ago, in particular it would not have been advisable to be among the hotel’s guests. An Israeli strike hit a suite on the top floor of the building. Members of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were reportedly staying there. At least five people were killed and about ten others injured:
- Majid Hosseini, Financial officer of the Quds Force Lebanon Corps, responsible for transferring Iranian funds to Hezbollah and allied groups.
- Ali Biazaar, Intelligence representative of the IRGC in Lebanon, reportedly involved in intelligence coordination with Hezbollah.
- Hossein Ahmadlou, Head of what Israeli sources call the “Zionist file” within the Quds Force unit operating in Lebanon.
- Ahmad Rasouli, Intelligence officer connected to the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, allegedly involved in coordinating activity with Palestinian militant groups.
According to Israeli military statements, the men were meeting in the hotel suite in central Beirut while coordinating militant activity and attacks against Israel through the Quds Force–Hezbollah network.
The strike was highly targeted: windows shattered and part of the façade was damaged, but the structure itself did not collapse and the damage was limited to a precise, surgical hit on a single room.
The hotel, owned by a Lebanese group, operates under the Ramada brand of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, which operates more than 9,000 hotels in around 95 countries under roughly 25 brands. Ramada, one of the oldest hotel brands in the world, was founded in the United States in 1954 and today, hundreds of hotels operate under the name worldwide. In Israel, Ramada hotels operate in Jerusalem and Netanya.
Under normal circumstances, the Beirut property functions primarily as a business and leisure hotel, hosting international delegations, journalists and business travelers. It stands in the heart of one of the city’s main tourism districts. The Raouché hotel strip, home to a long row of mostly upscale international hotels.
The strike was particularly unusual geographically as well. The Raouché district, where the Ramada stands, lies several kilometers away from Dahieh, Beirut’s southern suburb considered the main stronghold of Hezbollah, where Israeli strikes are usually concentrated. A strike on a hotel in the center of the city’s seaside tourism district, far from Dahieh, is considered an exceptional event in Beirut’s security landscape.
Yet for the city’s residents, a hotel suddenly turning into a security headline is not entirely new.
Two decades earlier, an even more dramatic event occurred nearby. On February 14, 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a massive explosion along Beirut’s waterfront. His convoy was attacked near the historic St. George Hotel, long regarded as one of the city’s iconic hotels. The explosion devastated parts of the building and turned it into a symbol of the event that reshaped Lebanese politics.
“WAR OF THE HOTELS”
The connection between hotels and Beirut’s turbulent history runs even deeper. At the beginning of the Lebanese civil war in the 1970s, many of the city’s luxury hotels became battle positions in what became known as the “War of the Hotels”. High-rise buildings of that era, such as the Holiday Inn and the InterContinental, were used as sniper positions and improvised fortresses. The Holiday Inn building still stands today as an abandoned concrete shell in the center of the city. One of the most powerful symbols of that traumatic civil war.
The recent strike is not comparable to those battles in scale. It struck only a single room. Yet the very fact that a hotel in the heart of Beirut’s tourism district once again makes security headlines is a reminder of how fragile reality in this city can be.
Despite its turbulent history and the unpleasant events that have taken place in some of its hotels, Beirut continues during periods of calm to draw travelers to its shores. But for visitors to the city, history offers a quiet warning: even in a hotel with a perfect sea view, one may suddenly find oneself at the center of a chaotic drama.
About the writer:
The author is a seasoned hotel expert, traveler, writer, and videographer, and formerly served as Head of Public Relations for Hilton Hotels & Resorts in Israel. Today, as a travel writer and hospitality trends analyst, his insights and experiences are regularly featured in leading Israeli media outlets.
Feature Picture – Beirut Beauty. An idyllic waterfront that belies the dangers that beset its otherwise calm.(Photo: Lebanon Ministry of Tourism)
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
