Israel targets Hezbollah banking network in latest airstrikes

The network is based on the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, through which Hezbollah deposits and stores funds, manages salary payments, and even makes money transfers from Iran.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday it carried out a new wave of airstrikes targeting financial assets linked to Hezbollah, hitting about 30 sites connected to the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association (AQHA) over the past week.

“The Air Force fighter jets, under the direction of the Military Intelligence Directorate, yesterday completed another series of attacks against assets and warehouses of funds of the ‘Al-Qarch Al-Hassan’ Association, which were used to finance the activities of the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” the IDF said in a statement.

The IDF said that funds held by AQHA were used by Hezbollah to support its operations, including purchasing weapons, operating weapons factories, and paying salaries.

In comments to The Press Service of Israel after Israel struck 20 AQHA branches in 2024, a senior figure in the Israeli intelligence community described AQHA as “one of the largest centers of economic power for the Iranian proxy.”

She also suggested that its competition with the Lebanese banking sector contributed to the country’s economic instability, while Hezbollah benefited from a parallel, unregulated financial system.

The network is based on the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, through which Hezbollah deposits and stores funds, manages salary payments, and even makes money transfers from Iran.

Established in 1982, AQHA expanded significantly to 34 branches against the backdrop of Lebanon’s economic crisis. It specializes in providing microloans to Lebanon’s Shiite community, which predominantly supports Hezbollah.

These loans served various needs, from wedding expenses to agricultural development and solar energy farms.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned AQHA in 2007.

The IDF began attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon after the Iran-backed terror group fired three rockets in the direction of Haifa on March 2. It was Hezbollah’s first rocket attack since a November 2024 ceasefire took effect.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the March 2 rocket fire, calling it “revenge for the blood of the Supreme Leader of the Muslims, Ali Khamenei.” Khamenei was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on Feb. 28, the first day of the war.