Lebanon is assessing the damage after a wave of Israeli attacks on a Hezbollah-run financial institution

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese surveyed the damage Monday after Israeli strikes overnight hit nearly a dozen branches of a Hezbollah-run financial institution that Israel says is used to finance attacks but where many ordinary people keep their savings.

The attacks are targeted Al-Qard Al-Hassan Branches in the southern neighborhoods of Beirut, throughout southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa region, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. An impact leveled a nine-story building with a tree branch in it. On Monday, smoke was still rising in several places and bulldozers were clearing the rubble.

The Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings ahead of the attacks and there were no reports of casualties.

Israel invaded Lebanon earlier this monthand said it was aimed at pushing Hezbollah back from the border after more than a year of rocket, missile and drone attacks after Palestinian Hamas militants launched their surprise attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 had. Israeli air strikes have been bombing large parts of Lebanon for weeks, forcing over a million people to flee their homes.

Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military's Arabic-speaking spokesman, said warplanes had struck several locations “that served as cash depots for Hezbollah's military wing,” including Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which he said finances arms purchases and pays Hezbollah Fighter is used.

He said Hezbollah was storing hundreds of millions of dollars in branches without providing evidence and that the attacks were aimed at preventing the group from rearming.

In a series of tweets late Sunday, the Israeli military released maps showing the locations of branches it planned to attack and urged nearby residents to evacuate. Thousands of people fled and clogged the streets of the capital.

Local Lebanese television channels sought to reassure the public that areas in central Beirut were not listed as targets after a map issued by the Israeli military suggested an upscale shopping center was incorrectly marked as the location of a branch. The Israeli military did not target the site.

The institute, which has more than 30 branches across Lebanon, sought to reassure customers, saying it had evacuated all branches and relocated gold and other deposits to safe areas.

The registered nonprofit, which has been sanctioned by the United States and Saudi Arabia, has long served as an alternative to Lebanese banks that have imposed restrictions amid a severe financial crisis that began in 2019.

Its name means “the benevolent credit” in Arabic, and Hezbollah has used it to consolidate its support among the Shiite population in a country where… The state and financial institutions have failed in recent years. Still, many of his customers are civilians not affiliated with Hezbollah.

The attacks came after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin described the number of civilian casualties in Lebanon as “far too high”. War between Israel and Hezbollahand called on Israel to scale back some attacks, particularly in and around Beirut.

In a separate development, the Israeli military apologized for an attack on Sunday in southern Lebanon that killed three Lebanese army soldiers. It said it targeted a vehicle in an area Hezbollah had recently used for attacks, without knowing it belonged to the Lebanese military.

The military said it was “not taking action against the Lebanese army and apologized for these undesirable circumstances.”

The Lebanese army is a respected institution in the country, but it is not powerful enough to impose its will on Hezbollah or to protect Lebanon from Israeli invasion. The army remained largely on the sidelines Since Israel and Hezbollah have suffered a blow over the past year.

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