Israel launches strikes on Hezbollah financial system

Washington Post

Israel issued new evacuation orders for parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Bekaa Valley late Sunday ahead of strikes it said were aimed at dismantling Hezbollah’s financial operations.

Explosions rocked the southern suburbs and sites near the Beirut airport soon after a post on X from Avichay Adraee, the Israel Defense Forces’ Arabic-language spokesman, warning civilians to “move at least 500 meters away” from branches of the Al-Qard Al-Hasan Association.

A Hezbollah-run financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hasan was sanctioned by the United States in 2007 after the Treasury Department said it was being used by Iran to funnel money to Hezbollah and other militant groups in the region.

The organization also functions as a bank and credit institution in Lebanon, and has been used by civilians and business owners in recent years amid the country’s economic collapse.

“This is really an example of how Hezbollah exploits the economic situation in Lebanon to its to its own advantage,” a senior Israeli intelligence official said Sunday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Israeli forces also continued to trade heavy fire with militants along the Lebanese border on Sunday. Hezbollah said it launched at least a dozen missile attacks targeting Israel’s military and at least one Israeli city, Safed, while the IDF said it hit series of military and intelligence facilities.

“Not only are we defeating the enemy, but we are destroying them by dismantling their tunnels, weapon storage facilities and their attack infrastructure,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to Israel’s northern border Sunday.

In northern Gaza, meanwhile, in the town of Beit Lahia, rescue and medical workers said continuous bombardment had made it impossible for them to reach those wounded in an Israeli airstrike Saturday on a group of homes that killed at 73 people, according to Gaza’s civil defense. “There are a large number of injured people in the streets,” said Mahmoud al-Hajj Ahmed, a surgeon in the area. “Anyone who tries to reach them is targeted.”

Israel said its forces have been instructed to try to limit harm to civilians as they seek to identify and target Hamas fighters.

Marwan Sultan, director of the nearby Indonesian Hospital, told The Washington Post on Sunday that the Israeli army burned a school adjacent to the hospital and dangerously close to the hospital’s fuel tank and generators. Spreading flames from the school have prompted fears of an explosion at the hospital. “We ask everyone to pressure the Israeli army to allow civil defense crews to intervene to put out the fire, otherwise a real disaster will occur,” Sultan said.

The IDF said an Israeli brigade commander was killed in northern Gaza on Sunday and a battalion commander was seriously injured as fighting continued to rage in the Jabalya refugee camp.

Other developments

• The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon said an IDF bulldozer deliberately demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a U.N. position in Marwahin on Sunday. “Despite the pressure being exerted on the mission and our troop-contributing countries, peacekeepers remain in all positions,” read a statement from the group, known as UNIFIL. The IDF had no immediate comment.

• Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, traveled to Egypt on Sunday to discuss resuming negotiations over a Gaza cease-fire and hostage-release deal, according to an Israeli official familiar with the matter. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

• Three Lebanese soldiers were killed after Israeli forces struck an army vehicle in the country’s south, Lebanon’s military – which is backed by the United States – said Sunday. The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• Israel’s military said Sunday it has moved 5,000 people from northern Gaza’s Jabalya area. Nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched a new operation in Gaza’s north two weeks ago, Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense, told The Post.

• At least 42,603 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. At least 2,448 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the country’s Health Ministry. Neither distinguishes between civilians and combatants.

• Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, including more than 300 soldiers. It says 356 soldiers have been killed in its Gaza military operations.