Peloni: The assault on Hezbollah’s financial empire represents an important undertaking in pursuit of the toppling of the Hezbollah regime. It is noteworthy to reflect upon the lack of interest being expressed by the Lebanese to do more than scurry out of the way as they pretend an incapacity of any agency in this matter. Of course, they have choices, but they are at present choosing the wrong choices, much as Tony Badran explained they would do.
Seth Frantzman | October 20, 2024
Long THREAD: Israel will begin a wave of strikes in Lebanon that target a key financial conduit run by Hezbollah which serves the Shi’ite community.
“Residents of Lebanon, the IDF will begin attacking infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association – get away from it immediately”
This is the “al-Qard al-Hasan Association (AQAH) – the financial arm of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.” You can read some background here.
Hezbollah’s al-Qard al-Hasan and Lebanon’s Banking Sector https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2021/05/11/hezbollahs-al-qard-al-hasan-and-lebanons-banking-sector/
A senior Israel intelligence official said earlier today that Israel will strike the economic system of Hezbollah and harm the grip it has on large parts of society.
The Hezbollah financial system has several aspects, the Israeli official noted. These include around $50 million that comes from Iran via Syria. Some of this comes in swaps that relate to oil transfers to Syria; and also some comes via cash all the way from Iran.
There are money transfers involving those with diplomatic cover which makes one wonder about the recent Iran FM trip to Lebanon and Syria and Qalibaf’s flight.
Hezbollah also has economic initiatives in Lebanon including businesses and other things it does to earn money. The Israeli official noted that Hezbollah is trying to become self-sufficient and isolate itself both from Lebanon’s economy and perhaps even Iran.
al-Qard al-Hasan Association has a key role in this as a kind of bank that serves people in Lebanon, primarily Shi’ites. It’s not connected to the world banking sector via traditional means such as SWIFT. But Hezbollah controls it and pays salaries using it. Israel’s official noted that this serves as an alternative banking system.
Hezbollah counts on this system. It also enables Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanon. It also harms Lebanon because all the money floating around in this system is kept on the sidelines in Hezbollah’s economic crisis.
Back in February there was an article “Hezbollah bank Al-Qard Al-Hasan could be its Achilles heel”
Read more: Hezbollah’s socioeconomic foundations: Al-Qard al-Hasan, a quasi-bank that provides interest-free loans, mainly to members of the Shiite community
terrorism-info.org.il/en/hezbollahs-…
There’s more to Hezbollah’s parallel state, such as Jih?d al-Bin?’ which is a development foundation run by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The purpose of the organization is to help alleviate the consequences of the Lebanese Civil War and Hezbollah’s resistance against Israel.
Israel is not mentioning these other aspects of the state within a state yet.
This appears to be a new phase in the war on Hezbollah which Israel launched, called Northern Arrows.
The first phase was from the pager incident to the elimination of Nasrallah on September 27, and the Radwan commanders on Sept. 20.
The pre-war phase was what would could have been called the “phony war” of low intensity conflict from Oct. 8 to September 17.
The first phase targeting the command and control overlapped with the airstrikes phase of 1,600 airstrikes on Sept. 23 when the operation began.
The ground operation was likely the third phase that began on October 1. This has gone on for almost three weeks.
Now the four phase, one could argue, has begun with going after the Hezbollah symbol of its state within a state of financial institutions. The IDF’s announcement is also designed to make it clear why the IDF is targeting what Hezbollah will claim are civilian “banks.”
This could show Hezbollah weakeness and lead to Shi’ites feeling Hezbollah risks their assets. The community is historically poorer and marginalized in Lebanon so this will be a setback for the community. Will it turn on Hezbollah or blame Israel.
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