Israel Strikes Hezbollah-Linked Bank Branches in Beirut, Southern Lebanon

Israel has carried out more air strikes in Beirut and southern Lebanon, including on branches of a bank that it says is supporting Hezbollah.

Explosions were heard in southern Beirut’s Dahieh district, an area controlled by Hezbollah, as well as the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon. It is unclear whether there are any casualties.

The Israeli military earlier warned people living in more than 20 areas in Lebanon including 14 in the capital Beirut that it planned to carry out strikes throughout the night.

The Israel Defense Forces IDF also said it would target banks and other financial infrastructure supporting Hezbollah. 

In a statement on Sunday evening, IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari warned that “anyone located near sites used to fund Hezbollah’s terror activities must move away from these locations immediately.”

“We will strike several targets in the coming hours and additional targets throughout the night,”he said.

“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,”the Israeli spokesman added.

Lebanon’s staterun news agency NNA reported strikes on branches of the bank Al-Qard Al-Hassan association, including in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

It also reported a strike on the bank’s branch near Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut. 

Footage showed smoke billowing following a blast near the airport.

The bank has more than 30 branches across Lebanon, including two in central Beirut.

It offers services to civilians in parts of the country where the group has strong support.

Israel accuses the association of funnelling Iranian money to the group to fund buying and storing weapons and to pay the salaries of its members. The institution has been under US sanctions since 2007, and is accused by American officials of being a cover for Hezbollah to manage its financial activities.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it had fired more rockets into Israel on Sunday, targeting military bases. It also said it fired at Israeli troops on the ground in southern Lebanon.

On Sunday evening, the IDF said that dozens of projectiles which usually means rockets had been fired at northern Israel in the past 24 hours.

It also said that its warplanes conducted “an intelligence-based strike on a command centre of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters and an underground weapons workshop in Beirut.”

It said steps had been taken to “reduce the possibility of civilian casualties.”

Israel has been accused by Hezbollah and Lebanese officials of targeting civilians, which it denies.

On Sunday, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Unifil accused the IDF of deliberately demolishing an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position in the southern Lebanese town of Marwahin on the border with Israel. It follows similar incidents in recent weeks.

“Yet again, we note that breaching a UN position and damaging UN assets is a flagrant violation of international law and Security Council resolution 1701,”the Unifil said in a statement.

In a separate development, the Lebanese army said three of it soldiers were killed after a military vehicle was hit by an Israeli air strike in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon.

Israel has not yet commented on the two reported incidents.

Lebanon’s army has historically stayed out of cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah but a number of its troops have been killed in Israeli attacks since fighting escalated last month.

Hezbollah a powerful militant group in Lebanon says it has been firing on Israeli positions in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by Iran.

Lebanese officials estimate that more than 2,400 people have been killed in the country over the past year. Israel says 59 people have been killed in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights over the same period.

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