| |
Lebanon Assesses Damage After Strikes 10/21 06:06
Lebanese were surveying the damage on Monday after overnight Israeli strikes
hit nearly a dozen branches of a Hezbollah-run financial institution that
Israel says is used to fund attacks but where many ordinary people keep their
savings.
BEIRUT (AP) -- Lebanese were surveying the damage on Monday after overnight
Israeli strikes hit nearly a dozen branches of a Hezbollah-run financial
institution that Israel says is used to fund attacks but where many ordinary
people keep their savings.
The strikes targeted Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches in the southern
neighborhoods of Beirut, across southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa, where
Hezbollah has a strong presence. One strike flattened a nine-story building
with a branch inside it. Smoke was still rising from several locations on
Monday and bulldozers were removing the debris.
The Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes,
and there were no reports of casualties.
Israel invaded Lebanon earlier this month, saying it aims to push Hezbollah
back from the border after more than a year of rocket, missile and drone
attacks that began after Palestinian Hamas militants launched their surprise
Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Israeli airstrikes have
pounded large areas of Lebanon for weeks, forcing over a million people to flee
their homes.
Avichay Adraee, the Arabic language spokesman for the Israeli military, said
warplanes targeted several locations "used to store money for the military arm
of Hezbollah," including Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which he said finances arms
purchases and is used to pay Hezbollah fighters.
He said Hezbollah stores hundreds of millions of dollars in the branches,
without providing evidence, and that the strikes were aimed at preventing the
group from rearming.
In a series of tweets late Sunday, the Israeli military released maps noting
the locations of the branches it planned to target, asking residents nearby to
evacuate. Thousands of people fled, jamming streets in the capital.
Local Lebanese TV networks sought to reassure the public that areas in
central Beirut were not listed as targets after a map issued by the Israeli
military indicated it would target an upscale mall that was incorrectly labeled
as the location of a branch. The Israeli military did not target the site.
Bulldozers were clearing mounds of rubble on Monday at the site of one of
the strikes. Clothes, furniture and the remains of a beauty salon poked out
among the debris. Al-Qard al-Hassan documents were scattered across the area,
but there was no sign of cash or other valuables.
The institution, which has more than 30 branches across Lebanon, tried to
reassure customers, saying it had evacuated all its branches and relocated gold
and other deposits to safe areas.
The registered nonprofit, sanctioned by the United States and Saudi Arabia,
has long served as an alternative to Lebanon's banks, which have imposed
restrictions in the face of a severe financial crisis that began in 2019.
Its name in Arabic means "the benevolent loan," and Hezbollah has used it to
entrench its support among the Shiite population in a country where state and
financial institutions have failed in recent years. Still, many of its
customers are civilians unaffiliated with Hezbollah.
The strikes came 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.
In a separate development, the Israeli military apologized for a strike on
Sunday in southern Lebanon that killed three Lebanese army soldiers. It said it
targeted a vehicle in an area that Hezbollah had recently used for attacks
without realizing it belonged to the Lebanese military.
The military said it is "not operating against the Lebanese Army and
apologizes for these unwanted circumstances."
Lebanon's army is a respected institution within the country, but it is not
powerful enough to impose its will on Hezbollah or defend Lebanon from Israel's
invasion. The army has largely kept to the sidelines as Israel and Hezbollah
have traded blows over the past year.
|
|
