The IDF on Monday revealed the secrets behind Hezbollah’s finance network, including slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s former emergency bunker located under Al-Sahel Hospital in Dahieh in southern Beirut which holds hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold.

The IDF on Sunday and Monday struck about 20 out of 34 branches of Hezbollah’s financial arm, the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association (AQAH), in southern Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the eastern Bekaa Valley. AQAH, officially a “charity” organization, is often referred to as Hezbollah’s bank. A senior Israeli intelligence official described AQAH as “one of the largest centers of economic power for the Iranian proxy” in remarks to The Press Service of Israel.

She added that the AQAH contributes to Lebanon’s economic crisis by competing with the Lebanese banking system. AQAH provided loans to Lebanon’s Shite sector and financed hospitals, schools and other social service institutions, strengthening Hezbollah’s power to act a “state within a state.”

Speaking at a press conference on Monday evening, Hagari said that the IDF is now targeting Hezbollah’s financial network and one of the main targets that were struck on Sunday was an underground vault located under a residential building with “tens of millions of dollars in cash and gold” being used to fund Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel.

Hagari also revealed the presence of the bunker under Al-Sahel Hospital, adding that Israel has not struck the hospital but the site is being monitored by the Israeli Air Force.

“Israel will not strike the hospital itself,” Hagari said. “I want to emphasize: we are not at war with the people of Lebanon. We are at war with Hezbollah.”

However, Reuters reported that the hospital was evacuated after the IDF publicized the information about the Hezbollah bunker underneath it in anticipation of further strikes.

“In recent years, the state of Lebanon has experienced a deep financial crisis which was exploited by Hezbollah,” Hagari said. “Hezbollah’s main financial arm is the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, which provides financial services to Lebanese civilians and pays the salaries of Hezbollah’s operatives. Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which violates international law, is sanctioned by the United States and other Western countries.”

The US began sanctioning AQAH in 2007 due to its laundering of funds for terror-related activities.

“Hezbollah’s financial network is based on two main sources of income – money from the Iranian regime and money from the Lebanese people,” Hagari said, explaining that Iran sends cash and gold to Hezbollah via the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

“Hezbollah has also built factories in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Turkey that provide income for its terrorist operations. ”

Hagari also confirmed that the IDF eliminated Hezbollah’s top financial official in an airstrike in Damascus on Monday.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)