Israel strikes 300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over 24 hours

In a widening air campaign, the Israeli military has carried out a wave of airstrikes targeting branches of a financial institution affiliated with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, saying the quasi-banking system is being used to fund the terrorist group’s military wing.

Continuing the strike on Hezbollah’s financial operations, the IDF on Monday struck about 300 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, “Approximately 300 targets were hit in the last 24 hours alone," the military said in a statement after military chief Herzi Halevi said around 30 targets related to Al-Qard al-Hassan, a financial firm linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The strikes destroyed more than a dozen branches of al-Qard al-Hasan across Lebanon Sunday night, and came two weeks after an airstrike killed the man who many referred to as Hezbollah’s “finance minister.”

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“We struck close to 30 targets across Lebanon,” Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi said in a statement after strikes began Sunday night against the US-sanctioned association that Israel accuses of financing “Hezbollah’s terrorist operations”.

Israel has intensified its campaigns both in Gaza and Lebanon after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week had raised hopes of an opening for ceasefire talks to end more than a year of conflict.

What is al-Qard al-Hasan and who benefits from it?

Al-Qard al-Hasan is officially a non-profit charity institution operating outside the Lebanese financial system and one of the tools by which Hezbollah entrenches its support among the country’s Shiite population.

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In addition to its military wing, Hezbollah has branches that run schools, hospitals, low-price grocery stores, as well as al-Qard al-Hasan, from which hundreds of thousands of its supporters’ benefit.

Israel says the institution finances arms purchases and is used to pay Hezbollah fighters. The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on it since 2007, saying it is “used by Hezbollah as a cover" to manage the militant group’s financial activities “and gain access to the international financial system.”

Who was the Hezbollah financier killed?

Israel began going after Hezbollah’s finances earlier this month, when an Israeli airstrike destroyed the top two floors of a south Beirut building, killing Mohammed Jaafar Qassir, who the U.S. Treasury and Israel accused of transferring hundreds of millions of dollars from Iran to Hezbollah over the years. The U.S. had offered $10 million for information leading to the disruption of the financial mechanisms of Hezbollah.

The US Treasury said Qassir provided funding for Hezbollah operations through a number of “illegal smuggling and procurement activities and other criminal enterprises.”

It added that Qassir was also a critical conduit for financial disbursements from the powerful Quds Force branch of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that are used to fund Hezbollah’s activities.

The Israeli military said Qassir was in charge of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which ships weapons from Iran to Lebanon, and supervised Hezbollah’s development of precision-guided missiles.

With inputs from agencies.