Israel says it will target Hezbollah’s financial arm and announces imminent strikes

Workers clean a street under a giant portrait of the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, as smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut (Hussein Malla/AP)

Israel’s military says it will now take aim at Lebanon-based Hezbollah’s financial arm and plans to attack a “large number of targets” in the coming hours in Beirut and elsewhere.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari says they will issue evacuation warnings for people in parts of Beirut and “anyone who will be near the sites used to finance Hezbollah’s terrorist activity is required to stay away from them immediately”.

The strikes will target al-Qard al-Hassan, a senior Israeli intelligence official said. The registered non-profit organisation, sanctioned by both the US and Saudi Arabia, provides financial services and is also used by ordinary Lebanese.

Al-Qard al-Hassan is a unit in Hezbollah and is used to pay operatives of the Iran-backed militant group and help buy arms, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with army regulations.