Israeli air attacks pound south Lebanon, Hezbollah says advanced Israel drone downed
There have been several air raids overnight and into this morning. Some are still coming in – there was one in the town of Khiam. That border town came under intense air attacks yesterday.
Hezbollah said they have launched about nine different attacks into northern Israel, and also on Israeli positions inside southern Lebanon, including Maroun al-Ras. They say they have downed an Israeli drone.
They’ve had some success downing Israeli drones. The Hermes 450 is the one that they have been able to take out of the sky. Hezbollah is saying they have taken out the upgraded version of that particular Israeli drone – the Hermes 900.
That’s going to be a significant problem for the Israelis if Hezbollah have been able to knock out their more advanced technology.
Israel targets Baalbek, Hazin in eastern Lebanon
An Israeli air raid hit the city of Baalbek and ground forces raided the town of Hazin in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, our correspondent at Al Jazeera Arabic reports.
Earlier, the Israeli military said it had conducted a series of overnight air raids on Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, in what it said was an attack on Hezbollah sites and facilities that finance their operation.
Hezbollah says Israeli attacks on ‘bank’ actually targeting ‘charitable service'
The Israelis are very clear. They say this is a Hezbollah bank and it finances terrorism.
But actually, this is much more of a community bank than it is a retail bank. What people do is they go with any kind of collateral that they have. Let’s say, your children want to get married. You have some gold at home but you can’t afford to pay for your children’s marriage. You go to that bank. You give them the gold. They evaluate it and give you an interest-free loan, and you can pay for your children’s marriage.
Remember that Hezbollah is divided into three sections. There is the military wing, the political wing, and the charitable wing. This is part of their charitable institutions.
Israel is going to hit this financial institution again. But, once again, Hezbollah says this is one of the charitable services that they provide.
People inspect the damage after an attack on al-Qard al-Hassan financial institution, linked to Hezbollah, in Lebanon’s Chiyah on Monday
What is Lebanon’s al-Qard al-Hassan financial institution?
Israel’s fighter jets struck branches of what it said is a Hezbollah-linked financial institution overnight.
Here is some information about al-Qard al-Hassan Association:
- Founded in 1983, al-Qard al-Hassan describes itself as a charitable organisation that provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. It has more than 30 branches, most of them located in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. It operates under a licence granted by the Lebanese government.
- The US Department of the Treasury, which sanctioned the association in 2007, has claimed that Hezbollah uses al-Qard al-Hassan as a cover to manage “financial activities and gain access to the international financial system”. The department sanctioned individuals linked to it in 2021.
- Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated in an Israeli air raid on September 27, spoke about the institution many times. In 2020, after al-Qard al-Hassan was hacked and names of its clients were published, Nasrallah said the aim was to scare away its users in a bid to make the institution collapse. He urged Hezbollah supporters to respond by depositing any funds they had at home with al-Qard al-Hassan. He described it as an organisation supported and protected by Hezbollah.
UN condemns ‘extensive damage’ after Israeli strikes in Lebanon
The United Nations has condemned Israeli strikes on Sunday that targeted a Hezbollah-affiliated firm that caused “extensive damage” to civilian property and infrastructure.
“We condemn the heavy Israeli bombardment of various urban and residential areas … which the [Israeli military] says targeted various facilities affiliated with the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial association,” the UN Human Rights Office said in a statement, adding the attacks caused “extensive damage to civilian objects”.
