On Monday, Israel targeted a building in Beirut’s southern suburbs that was reportedly a branch of the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial institution, as it intensified attacks against organisations linked to the Lebanese group.
Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a quasi-banking institution that offers interest-free loans to people, is one of the many charity organisations run by Hezbollah, including schools, hospitals and low-price grocery stores.
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Israel launched renewed attacks on Lebanon on March 2 after Hezbollah responded to the February 28 killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Hezbollah hadn’t attacked Israel for more than a year, despite Israel’s near-daily violations of the 2024 ceasefire.
Since then, Israel has attacked Lebanon hundreds of times, killing nearly 500 people, including 83 children, and wounding thousands more. Israel claims it is trying to destroy Hezbollah’s capacity to attack its northern area.
So what do we know about Al-Qard Al-Hassan, and Israel is targeting it?
Here’s all you need to know:
What is Al-Qard Al-Hassan?
It is a financial institution that offers microcredit to people in Lebanon. Many people in the country might use it to keep money or to take loans on gold. It differs from a traditional bank in that it doesn’t take banking fees or interest on the loans.
The institution, founded in 1983, is linked to Hezbollah but serves people of all religious communities. It became more prominent in recent years, after Lebanon’s banking system collapsed in 2019.
It mostly deals in smaller loans, often backed by gold deposits, but also offers bank accounts without traditional banking fees. Al-Qard Al-Hassan is not regulated by the Banque du Liban, Lebanon’s central bank, or part of the international banking network.
A local Beirut resident, who said he has used Al-Qard Al-Hassan for 15 years, told Al Jazeera that the organisation has continued to operate despite the Israeli attacks.
Fouad Debs, a lawyer and member of the Depositors Union, which has fought Lebanon’s banking system for depositors’ access to their money blocked during the country’s 2019 financial crisis, said that Al-Qard Al-Hassan provided many who were unbanked with a financial standing or access to loans.
Why is it being targeted?
Israel claims it is trying to destroy Hezbollah and its capacity to operate as an organisation.
Hezbollah was established in response to Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon. It has since evolved into one of the most powerful players in Lebanese politics. Its political ally, the Amal Movement, is a major player in Lebanon’s fractured democratic political system.
The US Treasury Department applied sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007 after accusing Hezbollah of using it as a cover to hide its financial activities and to gain access to the international financial system. Those sanctions were strengthened in 2021 and again earlier this year.
This is not the first time Israel has attacked Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches. Many branches were targeted during the 2024 escalation. Human Rights Watch called the attacks “war crimes.”
Prior to the last escalation, the institution had around 30 branches.
On October 20, 2024, Israel struck most of those offices in southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and the Bekaa Valley. Central Beirut also has a couple of offices
“An armed group’s use of a financial institution, association, or bank does not amount to an effective contribution to military action, and therefore it is not a lawful military target under the laws of war,” Human Rights Watch’s report from 2024 said.
“The Israeli military’s repeated strikes on Lebanese financial institutions indicate a deliberate and unlawful attack on Hezbollah’s civilian wing,” Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in the report from 2024.
“Designating a civilian institution as a military target because of its affiliation rather than its effective contribution to military action puts all commercial operations at risk during wartime.”
Will the strikes have an impact?
Imad Salamey, a Lebanese political scientist, told Al Jazeera that the attacks have little impact on the organisation’s ability to operate.
“Israel’s strikes on Al-Qard Al-Hassan appear largely symbolic and part of a broader campaign of political and psychological warfare against Hezbollah’s institutional network,” Salamey said.
Salamey added that many of the sites “are mainly offices or service branches that hold little actual liquidity, meaning the direct financial impact is likely limited”.
If the attacks have such little impact, then why target the offices at all?
“Issuing warnings before the strikes helps Israel amplify the psychological warfare along media coverages while reinforcing the narrative that it is targeting Hezbollah-linked infrastructure rather than civilians,” Salamey said.
The impact will be minimal on Hezbollah, analysts said, but could hurt Lebanese who keep their valuables at Al-Qard Al-Hassan, particularly the thousands who are working class or unbanked.
The 2019 financial crisis devalued the Lebanese currency by more than 90 percent and thrust much of the country into poverty.
Israel also ordered mass evacuations in the last week of Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, and the areas south of the Litani River, which runs across south Lebanon. Nearly 700,000 people are displaced.
Meanwhile, battles continue to rage in south Lebanon between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops.
