Israeli airstrikes hit three branches of a Hezbollah-linked financial institution in Beirut on Sunday night, one of them located next to the Lebanese capital's international airport.
The raids hit Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches in the Hay Al-Sellom, Burj Al-Barajneh and Ghobeiry areas of Beirut's southern suburbs, according to Lebanon's state news agency.
The Israeli Air Force targeted "the Al-Qard al-Hassan affiliate" in the Hermel region of eastern Lebanon, ANI reported. These are financial facilities used by Hezbollah to pay its operatives and help buy weapons, according to the Israelis. The United States imposed sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, saying it was being used by Hezbollah "as a front to manage the financial activities of the terrorist organization and to gain access to the international financial system."
Founded in 1983, Al-Qard Al-Hassan is a non-profit financial institution affiliated with Hezbollah that provides interest-free loans, based on Islamic lending principles, to the Shiite community.
The first warnings concerned southern Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley, but according to a senior Israeli intelligence official, the strikes were likely to be "all over Lebanon." In fact, one of them occurred near the city's Rafic Al Hariri International Airport, where commercial flights continue to operate.
Images released by Israeli forces show a building collapsing after being hit by an Israeli strike. The same building was one of several that had been "marked" by the IDF as a target a few hours earlier.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari had earlier warned civilians: "Anyone who finds themselves near the sites used to finance Hezbollah's terrorist activity must stay away from them."
The offices of Hezbollah's secret services were also hit - three of its commanders were killed
This came hours after Israel claimed to have struck Hezbollah's intelligence offices in Beirut.
"The IAF (Israeli Air Force) carried out an intelligence-led attack on a Hezbollah intelligence headquarters command center and an underground weapons workshop in Beirut," the IDF said earlier Sunday.
"Additionally, the IAF ... struck and neutralized terrorist Al-Haj Abbas Salama in the Tebnine area, a senior commander in Hezbollah's southern front, as well as terrorists Rada Abbas Awada and Ahmad Ali Hussein."
The IDF claimed it took "numerous measures" to "mitigate the risk of civilian casualties" in both cases.
In response, about 200 rockets were fired from the Lebanese border into northern Israel during Sunday, the Israeli military added.
Israel: We are ready to move to the next stage of the war
Determined to escalate, Israel appears to have drawn up a plan to retaliate against Hezbollah after the drone attack that targeted Benjamin Netanyahu's residence.
In his messages after the strike, the Israeli prime minister spoke of an assassination attempt against him while speaking of an immediate punitive response to Iran's allies.
Israel's security council met for the response in Tehran, but a little earlier the country's Defense Minister Yoav Gallad, during a regular briefing on the situation on the northern border, said the following:
"We are moving from a state of defeat of the enemy to a state of destruction by blowing up tunnels, munitions depots, dismantling Hezbollah."
"We are getting closer and closer to completing the mission, although there is still much to be done. The IDF is preparing for further moves, but primarily executing this operation properly," the defense minister added.
The strikes between Israel and Lebanon
The climate of extreme aggravation remains in Israel-Lebanon relations with heavy blows continuing. The Lebanese news agency ANI reported that the Israeli army, which is carrying out raids against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, blew up with dynamite several houses in three villages near the border with Israel.
The Israeli military is "carrying out large-scale house-blowing operations" in the neighboring border communities of Adaiseh, Markaba and Rab Talatin, according to ANI, following heavy airstrikes that targeted dozens of communities and villages in southern Lebanon yesterday.
As the German News Agency (dpa) reports, citing local security sources, the Israeli army has almost completely destroyed villages in southern Lebanon, leveling houses and mosques.
The army blew up the town of Ramia near Beit Jbeil in the border area, among other locations, Lebanese security sources told dpa. There is currently no official confirmation of this information.
The Lebanese Hezbollah organization announced for its part that it had fired rockets at three military bases in northern Israel, following dozens of airstrikes by the Israeli army on Lebanese soil.
These "rocket barrages" targeted three military "bases", including an "air defense" installation, in northern Israel near the cities of Haifa and Safed, and west of Lake Tiberias, according to statements made public by the pro-Iranian organization.
Source: protothema.gr
