Arabic media reported that there were several strikes in downtown Beirut on Sunday following statements by Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari announced on Sunday that the Israel Defense Forces will begin physically targeting Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure by directly attacking financial facilities in Lebanon.
The IDF announced it would launch airstrikes against Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure, including numerous money laundering schemes involving everything from loans to charities to gold mines.
According to former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) official Uzi Shaya, quoted by the Globe, the Al-Qad al-Hasan (AQAH) association is Hezbollah’s main financial institution. AQAH operates ostensibly as a charitable Islamic banking organization, providing loans to thousands of Lebanese for everything from daily necessities to marriage, school fees, and housing.
The Hezbollah-owned Lebanese news agency Al-Manar reported on Sunday following the IDF’s announcement that AQAH is bankrupt and that the IDF is deliberately targeting the association to disrupt the lives of the Lebanese people.
The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Intelligence Center (ITIC) describes the organization as “a quasi-banking activity whose main business is the provision of loans and the management of charitable community funds in accordance with Islamic religious law (which prohibits the collection of interest).” It is explained that it is specialized in. Last month, it flew at half-mast in front of the government palace in Beirut to mourn the killing of Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah has dragged Lebanon into a devastating war that many in Lebanon see as having no legitimacy or logic, the author says. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
Part of the goal is to provide Lebanese Shi’ites with strong economic investment and continue their investment and cooperation in the conflict. The association also provides loans to the Palestinian community, according to the Globes.
The association claims most of its funding comes from lenders, membership fees and donations.
ITIC said it had no way to confirm whether other funds were being transferred by external actors such as Iran, and said its analysis showed that this was indeed likely to be the case.
ineffective sanctions
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned the association in 2016, but ITIC said the sanctions had little effect as AQAH’s loan volumes increased after the sanctions.
AQAH is estimated to have more than 400,000 accounts and control over billions of dollars. The company was accused of controlling all of Hezbollah’s financial activities, including front businesses and charities, according to Uzi Shaya, quoted in the Globe.
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Shaya said AQAH holds all types of financial capital, including gold and jewels, which it takes as collateral for loans.
He also said that AQAH is supported by both Lebanon and Iran. “We have also developed independent self-financing capabilities, primarily supplied by a range of charities, corporations and criminal networks,” Shaya told the Globes.
Many of the financial transfers were made in cash or virtual currency, with large amounts of cash flowing through Hezbollah-controlled Beirut airport.
“This is one of Iran’s wealthiest terrorist organizations, with an extensive smuggling network in Latin America and locations in Africa. Their contacts are responsible for moving millions of dollars in cash around the world. I have an agent.” Haim Koren told Groves.
