BEIRUT, March 8 (Reuters) - At least four people were killed when an Israeli strike hit an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in central Beirut early on Sunday, with Israel saying it targeted Iranian commanders operating in the Lebanese capital.

The attack marked the first Israeli strike in the heart of Beirut since Israel-Hezbollah hostilities resumed last week, and prompted fears the scope of Israel's strikes would expand outside areas where Hezbollah has traditionally operated.

ZURICH/FRANKFURT, March 8 (Reuters) - The United States and Israel have broken international law with their attacks on Iran, Swiss Defence Minister Martin Pfister said in an interview published on Sunday, the latest European leader to raise concerns about the conflict.

Legal experts have said many countries will consider the attacks unjustified under the United Nations Charter, under which member countries must refrain from using force or the threat of force without U.N authorisation or unless acting in self-defence.

President Emmanuel Macron will visit Cyprus on Monday, his office said, as France deploys warships to the Mediterranean following a drone attack on the island EU member days ago.

Macron will meet his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Paphos to show "solidarity" and detail moves to "strengthen security around Cyprus and in the eastern Mediterranean", the Elysee said on Sunday.

The visit will take place as the war pitting the US and Israel against Iran is in its second week, affecting much of the Middle East.

Iran was preparing to reveal its new supreme leader on Sunday, after US-Israeli air strikes destroyed fuel dumps and triggered fires that choked much of Tehran in a thick blanket of smoke.

The clerical body tasked with choosing a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- killed just over a week ago in the strikes that triggered the war in the Middle East -- has reached a decision, but not yet named the new leader.

Iran's players sang the national anthem and saluted before bowing out of the Women's Asian Cup with defeat in their last group match on Sunday in Australia.

When Iran faced South Korea on Monday in their opening game the players stood motionless, two days after the US and Israel began a war against the country.

But on Thursday in their second game, against hosts Australia, all the Iranian players saluted and sang the anthem on the Gold Coast.

Against the Philippines on Sunday they again sang and saluted as the rain came down on Queensland's Gold Coast.

By Emilie Madi and Khalil Ashawi

HAZMIEH, Lebanon, March 8 (Reuters) - Just days ago, Hussain Khrais was proudly showing off his newly restored home in south Lebanon, fixed up after being badly damaged in 2024 clashes between Israel and Hezbollah. But a new war has since erupted and his home is in the line of fire again.

Khrais fled his hometown of Khiyam, about five km (three miles) from the border with Israel, as Israel pounded Lebanon with heavy airstrikes last week in retaliation for Iran-backed group Hezbollah's rocket and drone fire into Israel.

March 8 (Reuters) - The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran's next supreme leader.

In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also warned it would pursue every person who seeks to appoint a successor for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referring to the clerical body charged with choosing the Islamic Republic's supreme leader.

(Reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din and Muhammad Al GebalyEditing by Bernadette Baum)

DUBAI, March 8 (Reuters) - The clerical body that will choose Iran's next supreme leader, succeeding the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said on Sunday.

The Mehr news agency quoted him as saying "some obstacles" still needed to be resolved regarding the process.

On Saturday, a senior cleric in the Assembly of Experts said its members would meet "within one day" to choose the leader.

Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Monday:

- Zelensky says tapped for help -

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 11 countries had tapped Kyiv for help on how to counter Iranian drones, being launched by Tehran across the Middle East.

Ukraine touts itself as having world-class drone defence capabilities, built up through fending off nightly barrages of Iran-style attack drones launched by Russia.

- NATO blocks missile in Turkey -

ROME, March 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump praised Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and said she was willing to help the United States and Israel in their war with Iran, Italy’s Corriere della Sera reported on Sunday.

Speaking to the newspaper in a telephone call on Saturday, Trump described Meloni as “a great leader” and said Italy was doing what it could to assist.

* "I love Italy, I think she is a great leader," Trump was quoted as saying of Meloni.