UPDATE 2 - Israeli army attacks Hezbollah-linked financial association in southern Beirut

REVISES HEADLINE, ADDS DETAILS

By Naim Berjawi

BEIRUT (AA) - The Israeli army launched a series of airstrikes late Sunday on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut after threatening to bomb buildings housing branches of Al-Qard Al-Hasan, a financial institution affiliated with the Hezbollah group.

Israeli warplanes carried out at least 11 strikes targeting the association's branches in Hayy al-Sellum, Borj al-Barajneh, Ghobeiry, Haret Hreik, Chiyah, Airport Road and Choueifet, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

It added that among them was an airstrike on a Al-Qard Al-Hassan branch near Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport.

Other airstrikes targeted branches of the institution in Baalbek, Hermel and Ali El Nahri in Baalbek-Hermel Governorate.

Videos from some of the targeted areas showed massive destruction to the buildings hit by the Israeli airstrikes.

Earlier, the Israeli army threatened to attack "important economic assets" of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"The air force will launch extensive strikes on targets in the southern suburb of Beirut, targeting Hezbollah-linked economic assets," army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said at a news conference.

"In a few minutes, we will issue warnings to residents in the southern suburbs and the Beqaa Valley to evacuate several buildings located near Hezbollah facilities,” Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson, said on X.

Al-Qard Al-Hasan is one of the key financial institutions of Hezbollah, which was established in the 1980s as a charitable association.

Israel has mounted a huge air campaign in Lebanon against what it says are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing more than 1,500 people and displacing over 1.34 million.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of the Israeli army’s offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which it has killed more than 42,600 people, most of them women and children, since a cross-border attack last October by the Palestinian group Hamas.

Israel expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 this year by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala