Israel bombed branches of a financial institution allegedly linked to Hezbollah in Lebanon on Sunday night in another escalatory move against the group, a move legal experts say constitutes a new war crime.
The Israeli military had issued warnings that it will begin striking Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association branches across Beirut’s southern suburbs, the eastern Beqaa region, and south Lebanon.
Panic ensued in Beirut as hundreds of residents who live in the capital's neighbourhoods where there are Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches were seen leaving their homes at night.
At least 11 strikes were reported south of Beirut and in the other regions, with some buildings housing Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches being levelled, according to videos shared online.
The association, which has over 30 branches, released a statement saying it had already taken measures to protect people’s deposits.
It slammed Israel’s "bankruptcy," saying it resorted to attacking its branches after facing losses on the battlefield in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah and Israeli forces continue fierce clashes.
Nobody was reportedly killed in the strikes.
Founded in 1982, Al-Qard Al-Hassan is widely considered to be Hezbollah’s financial arm. Literally meaning "good loan" in Arabic, the institution employs an Islamic concept of interest-free lending.
Operating outside of the Lebanese banking system, Al-Qard Al-Hassan began to grow following Lebanon’s financial collapse in late 2019, quickly becoming an alternative for many when depositors started resorting to the association after they were locked out of their savings in the country’s commercial banks.
It has been targeted by US sanctions for alleged money laundering for Hezbollah, a proscribed terrorist organisation in Washington.
'These are still war crimes'
Israel’s latest attacks could be considered a war crime as the institution’s branches fall within civilian areas and has no military role.
As well as Al-Qard Al-Hassan, Israel has gone after and killed members of the Islamic Health Authority (IHA), a health committee also considered to be linked to Hezbollah.
Both are civilian institutions with no role in Hezbollah’s combat.
Ghida Frangieh, a lawyer at the Lebanon-based NGO Legal Agenda, said that the attacks on the institutions are categorically war crimes.
"Civilians who are tied to any warring side, whether Hezbollah or the Lebanese state in our case, still benefit from the protection afforded to civilians because the rules of war do not require civilians' neutrality," Frangieh told The New Arab.
"Israel’s attacks against civilians or civilian infrastructure linked to Hezbollah would still be considered war crimes."
Frangieh said like in its war on Gaza, Israel is not differentiating between civilians and combatants in Lebanon as required by international humanitarian law.
"People are either combatants or human shields" to Israel, she says.
As well as killing paramedics from the IHA – and emergency workers from Lebanon’s state agencies – there have been instances where residential buildings were directly hit under the pretext that Israel was targeting an individual linked to Hezbollah.
Last week, an airstrike killed at least 23 people in the north Lebanon village of Aito. The area is far from areas where Israel’s attacks have been concentrated.
The owner of the property told local media that a man was checking in on a family displaced from south Lebanon, and about 15 minutes after his arrival the building was struck, levelling it and killing everyone inside.
"Was this person even a legitimate target? And let’s say he was, international law requires that measures are taken to mitigate civilian harm, and to calculate the direct military advantage versus the potential civilian toll," Frangieh tells TNA.
"Israel is completely and blatantly violating international humanitarian laws."