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The Israeli Defense Forces began conducting airstrikes against Lebanon late Sunday, targeting financial institutions linked to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Fox News’ Trey Yingst in Israel reports the strikes were intended to al-Qard al-Hassan “all over Lebanon.” Al-Qard al-Hassan is a unit in Hezbollah to fund terrorist activities like paying operatives and buying arms.
The registered nonprofit is sanctioned by both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, provides financial services and is also used by Lebanese civilians.
Workers clean a street under a giant portrait of the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, as smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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The IDF issued evacuation orders for civilians close to these financial institutions. IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the strikes will be widespread, targeting not just financial centers in Beirut, but also other Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon.
“I emphasize here—anyone located near sites used to fund Hezbollah’s terror activities must move away from these locations immediately,” Hagari said. “We will strike several targets in the coming hours and additional targets throughout the night. In the coming days, we will reveal how Iran funds Hezbollah’s terror activities by using civilian institutions, associations, and NGOs that act as fronts for terrorism. We will carry out these strikes tonight and provide updates on the results in the next days.”
Smoke rises, following a projectile attack, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, near Shlomi, northern Israel, October 19, 2024. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)
Fox News is told the goal is to strike at the heart of Hezbollah’s financial support for the conflict with Israel, which has been ongoing since October 2023, the month Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing nearly 1,200 and taking hundreds more as hostages.
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A senior intelligence official indicated earlier Sunday that not all of Hezbollah’s money is being held in these financial institutions, but it’s expected to inflict significant damage on the group’s economic abilities.
The official noted that there are hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians – mostly Shias – who use this banking system, and there are a number of branches in Beirut expected to be targeted.
Hezbollah weapons cache located near a UNIFIL post by IDF troops in southern Lebanon. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit.)
A year of escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah over the war in Gaza turned into all-out war last month, and Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon early this month.
Israel’s announcement came a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called civilian casualties in Lebanon “far too high” in the Israel-Hezbollah war, and urged Israel to scale back some strikes, especially in and around Beirut.
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Iran supports the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, and the United States is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents indicating that Israel was moving military assets into place for a military strike in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1, according to three U.S. officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.