US military says strikes in the first 24 hours was nearly double the scale of the 2003 ‘shock-and-awe’ operation in Iraq; US president orders insurance to be provided for shipping in crucial waterway

• Trump administration has still not settled on reasons for war

• Middle East attacks intensify as Trump rejects Iran’s attempt to talk

Lebanese state media are reporting that an Israeli strike hit a hotel in the Beirut suburb of Hazmieh on Wednesday morning.

The state-run National News Agency said that “an Israeli airstrike targeted a hotel in Hazmieh” adding that “ambulances were dispatched to the scene”.