By Sarah El Deeb and Samy Magdy
Lebanese were surveying the damage on Monday after overnight Israeli strikes hit nearly a dozen branches of a Hezbollah-run financial institution that Israel says is used to fund attacks but where many ordinary people keep their savings.
The strikes targeted Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches in the southern neighborhoods of Beirut, across southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. One strike flattened a nine-story building in Beirut with a branch inside it. Smoke rose from several locations on Monday.
The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes. There were no reports of casualties.
Israel invaded Lebanon earlier this month, saying it aims to push Hezbollah from the border after more than a year of rocket, missile and drone attacks that began after Palestinian Hamas militants launched their surprise Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Israeli airstrikes have pounded large areas of Lebanon for weeks, forcing over a million people to flee their homes.
The United States is hoping to revive diplomatic efforts to resolve both conflicts after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip last week, but so far all sides appear to be digging in.
The Arabic language spokesman for the Israeli military, Avichay Adraee, said warplanes targeted several locations “used to store money for the military arm of Hezbollah,” including Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which he said finances arms purchases and is used to pay fighters.
He said Hezbollah stores hundreds of millions of dollars in the branches, without providing evidence, and that the strikes were aimed at preventing the group from rearming.
The institution has more than 30 branches across Lebanon. It tried to reassure customers, saying it had evacuated all branches and relocated gold and other deposits to safe areas.
Many customers are civilians unaffiliated with Hezbollah. The registered nonprofit, sanctioned by the United States and Saudi Arabia, has long served as an alternative to Lebanon’s banks, which have imposed restrictions in the face of a severe financial crisis that began in 2019.
Bulldozers cleared mounds of rubble at the site of one strike. Clothes, furniture and the remains of a beauty salon were seen in the debris. Al-Qard al-Hassan documents were scattered across the area, but there was no sign of cash or other valuables.
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who has spent much of the past year trying to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, was back in Lebanon on Monday for talks with senior officials.
He said U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, was “no longer enough” to ensure peace and a new mechanism was needed to enforce it.
The resolution called for Hezbollah to withdraw from the border with Israel and for U.N. peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to control southern Lebanon, without any Hezbollah or Israeli presence.
Israel says the resolution was never implemented and that Hezbollah built up extensive military infrastructure right up to the border. Lebanon has long accused Israel of violating its airspace and failing to abide by other provisions of the resolution.
AP
