Israel has bombed the facilities of a finance group allegedly providing Hezbollah with its operational capabilities, in an attempt to cut off the group’s access to financial revenues and supplies amid the ongoing Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
According to Israel’s military on Monday, it conducted a series of strikes against “dozens of facilities and sites” allegedly used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and in the capital, Beirut, particularly targeting branches of the financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
Set up in 1983, the finance group operates officially as a charitable organisation which provides loans to customers in accordance with Islamic economic principles that forbid interest.
It has reportedly long been tied with Hezbollah and its support base, operating in one of the group’s key grassroots and societal projects, but Israel accuses that link of extending even deeper, asserting that the organisation directly funds “Hezbollah’s terror activities” such as the purchase of weapons and payments of its fighters.
With over 30 branches across Lebanon, including half of those in densely-populated areas in central Beirut and its suburbs, Israel now aims to target and suppress that network. According to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), Israel’s strikes last night reached Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches in Beirut, the eastern Bekaa Valley and areas in the south, such as the cities of Nabatieh and Tyre.
The extent of the damage of the strikes on the financial firm and its capabilities has not yet been confirmed, but Al-Qard Al-Hassan stated, following the strikes that “the institution has taken all measures since the beginning of the war”, and assured that those measures are “sufficient to preserve the trust of people’s deposits and their life savings”.
Hezbollah fights Israel ground forces in 3 border towns in southern Lebanon