Blasts rock Beirut as Israeli sorties target financial group helping fund Hezbollah

Israeli airstrikes targeted branches of an association accused of financing the Hezbollah terror group late Sunday and early Monday, as Israel appeared to expand its campaign against the Iran-backed group and degrade its ability to fund operations.

At least 11 strikes were reported in Beirut’s southern suburbs, with more attacks tallied in southern Lebanon and the northeastern Beqaa Valley region, all Hezbollah strongholds, as panicked civilians tried to reach shelter.

Most of the strikes targeted branches of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, an unlicensed gray-market bank seen as one of the group’s main sources of cash.

The IDF said Monday morning that its fighter jets hit “dozens of Hezbollah facilities and sites” overnight used to finance its activities in Beirut, southern Lebanon, and “deep within Lebanese territory.”

The funds were “stored by the Al-Qard al-Hassan Association,” the military said, which holds billions of dollars for Hezbollah. The IDF said that ahead of the strikes, “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including advance warnings issued via different platforms to the civilian population in the area.”

Israel announced Sunday evening that it was launching a campaign against Hezbollah’s funding networks, warning civilians to get away from any Al-Qard Al-Hassan facility.

“We will strike many sites in the coming hours, and more sites overnight. In the coming days, we will reveal how Iran finances Hezbollah’s terror activity using civilian institutions and associations as a cover,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Sunday night, shortly before the sorties began.

The Israeli military also apologized on Monday for killing three Lebanese soldiers in south Lebanon a day earlier, saying that the strike was unintentional. The IDF said it struck a truck that had entered an area where it had previously targeted a Hezbollah truck transporting a launcher and missiles.

The IDF said that soldiers were not aware that the second truck belonged to the Lebanese army, and that it is “not operating against the Lebanese Army and apologizes for these unwanted circumstances.”

Hundreds of Beirut residents fled their homes as explosions echoed across the Lebanese capital, including near Beirut’s international airport, which sits adjacent to the southern Beirut suburb known as Dahiyeh where Hezbollah is largely based.

Reuters witnesses saw dense plumes of black smoke billowing in the air after at least 10 blasts. They said a building located in Beirut’s Chiyah neighborhood was reduced to rubble and the few people in the area had fled ahead of the explosion, resulting in no casualties.

An unverified video online appeared to show a multi-story building collapse following a strike on it.

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Panicked crowds clogged the streets and caused traffic jams in some parts of Beirut as they tried to get to neighborhoods thought to be safer, witnesses said.

Al-Qard al-Hassan, which is sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, has more than 30 branches across Lebanon, including 15 in densely populated parts of central Beirut and its suburbs.

There was no immediate statement from Al-Qard al-Hassan, Hezbollah or the Lebanese government.

Asked by journalists whether the branches could be considered military targets, a senior Israeli intelligence official said: “The purpose of this strike is to target Hezbollah’s ability to function economically, both during the war but also afterward to rebuild and to rearm… on the day after.”

The strikes came after Israel said it had hit dozens of targets during air raids on Lebanon earlier Sunday, as Hezbollah claimed numerous rocket strikes over the border and clashes with Israeli ground troops.

Around 200 rockets were fired at Israel throughout Sunday, causing damage but no casualties, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Israel was also targeted by drones apparently fired from Iraq on Sunday and early Monday. The IDF said it downed one drone “from the east” over Syria. A second drone, claimed by Iran-backed militias in Iraq, was shot down after crossing into Israel and triggering warnings in a pair of northern Jordan Valley settlements in the West Bank.

About 70 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel Sunday within a matter of minutes, the military said, adding it had intercepted some of them.

In many cases, rocket impacts sparked fires, including a large blaze near Rosh Pina, in the Safed area.

Hezbollah also claimed an attack against Haifa. AFPTV images showed puffs of smoke in the sky above the port of Haifa as air defenses intercepted rockets and a siren wailed.

The Israel Fire and Rescue Service reported that fragments from an interceptor missile fell on a residential building in the western part of Haifa, causing some damage to the two-story property but no injuries.

In southern Lebanon, the United Nations peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, said an Israeli “army bulldozer deliberately had demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position.”

The Blue Helmets have repeatedly alleged targeting by Israeli troops, a charge rejected by Israel, which says the peacekeepers should evacuate to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

In a visit to northern Israel on Sunday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops of the IDF’s 98th Division that the military was stepping up strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, destroying places the group “planned to use as launch pads for attacks against Israel.”

Earlier Sunday, the Israeli military said it hit the “command center of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters” and underground weapons facility in south Beirut.

The IDF said Sunday its strikes in southern Lebanon killed more than 65 Hezbollah operatives, including a number of prominent figures.

On Saturday night the military had similarly reported striking weapons stores and a “Hezbollah intelligence headquarters” in the area.

Hezbollah meanwhile claimed it had downed an Israeli Hermes 450 drone Sunday, without saying where. There was no comment from the IDF.

After suffering nearly a year of cross-border attacks, Israel launched a major offensive against Hezbollah in September with catastrophic consequences for the group, decimating its leadership and crippling much of its capabilities.

The offensive is aimed at creating conditions that will allow tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel to safely return home, after Hezbollah began launching cross-border attacks on October 8, 2023 in support of the Gaza-based Hamas terror group.

The attacks on northern Israel over the last year have resulted in the deaths of 29 civilians. In addition, 43 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September.

Two soldiers have been killed in a drone attack from Iraq, and there have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

Since its beginning last month, the Israel-Hezbollah war has killed at least 1,470 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures. Many of them are thought to be Hezbollah operatives.

Hezbollah has named 516 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 94 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and hundreds of civilians have also been killed.

These numbers have not been consistently updated since Israel began the campaign in September, but the IDF estimates that more than 1,500 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict.

Agencies contributed to this report.