BEIRUT - For the 29th consecutive day, the US-led Israeli aggression on Lebanon continued unabated.

After its failure on the ground and suffering losses, the occupation regime targeted the branches of the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the South, and the Bekaa.

The Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association is a social financial group affiliated with Hezbollah. It was established following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and obtained an official license from the Lebanese Ministry of Interior in 1987. Its branches had reached 34 by 2023.

Some consider it a Hezbollah bank. However, Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association rejects this designation and says that it is a “solidarity association” seeking to help hundreds of thousands of Lebanese from different sects by providing “Qard Hassan,” a Quranic term meaning an interest-free loan, focusing on supporting needy groups and providing loans to cover social and productive needs. 

Targeting the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association is not to stop the funding of Hezbollah; the main goal is to exert political pressure and terrorize people. It also aims to destroy surrounding residential buildings as the association’s branches have been emptied. There is no money or gold in them. 

The US Treasury describes the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association as “Hezbollah’s black bank”. Between 2007 and 2016, it successively sanctioned it, accusing it of “illegally transferring funds” to Hezbollah. In the same context, it imposed sanctions on individuals it claimed were linked to Hezbollah and its financial institutions. 

Following the economic problem in Lebanon in 2019, the association launched humble loans especially to agricultural, small and handicraft projects, for a repayment period of up to 60 months.  In December 2020, the association’s accounts were hacked by a group calling itself “Spiders.” The hackers were able to obtain recordings from cameras installed in the branches, lists of borrowers and depositors, and other details.

The institution among other Hezbollah service institutions will be rebuilt after the war, despite malicious moves by America, Israel and their mercenaries.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Israeli officials as saying that the goal of targeting the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Foundation is to weaken Hezbollah’s relationship with its community.

The Israeli raids exceeded 20; they come as a card of power that the occupying entity places in the hands of the US presidential envoy, Amos Hochstein, who is visiting Beirut to pressure Hezbollah.

Amid anticipation of Israel’s attack on Iran, there is a trend at the security and political levels in the Zionist entity to exploit Hezbollah’s drone attack on Netanyahu’s home. Israeli War Minister Yoav Galant stated that Israel’s goal in its war on the northern border is to “cleanse the entire area to return citizens to their homes.”

Despite the “promise” Netanyahu made to US President Joe Biden, the aggression is expanding the war. It is claimed that Netanyahu is under pressure from his far-right partners who are demanding him to continue striking Beirut and criticizing his approval of the alleged US request to “reduce targeting in Beirut.”

It is worth noting that Hochstein was born in the occupied Palestinian territories; his parents are “American Jewish immigrants”, according to Hebrew media, which indicated that he served in the Israeli occupation army from 1992 to 1995. He then moved to Washington, where he received training at Capitol Hill. (The US State Department website only mentions the positions he held in US administrations.)

Hochstein is considered close to President Joe Biden and acted as his assistant. Observers believe that the mediator is extremely biased in favor of Tel Aviv.

Since October 2024, Hochstein has visited Beirut several times, and instead of pressuring Israel to stop the genocidal war, his concern – as an American envoy in public and an Israeli mediator in secret – was to ensure that the Lebanese government’s position does not coincide with that of Hezbollah, which has linked the cessation of the war in the south to a ceasefire in Gaza. He also sought in his repeated visits to implement UN Resolution 1701. 

This pressure nevertheless will not yield the fruits that the enemy hopes for, because the Lebanese position is clear and rejects any step that affects Lebanese sovereignty.

The Hezbollah leadership has informed Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the Lebanese negotiator, of the factors of strength on the ground. God forbid, if Hezbollah loses the ground, not only Lebanon but also the entire resistance front will suffer. Therefore, the resistance is adhering to the conditions that His Eminence Shaheed Sayyed Nasrallah underscored, most notably the cessation of aggression on Gaza.
(Shaeed means martyr in Arabic language).

The Zionist entity leaked – via Axios – tough conditions that amount to occupying Lebanon.  Since the Israelis are cruel and brutal the only way to deal with them on the ground is to unite around the legitimate Lebanese demands and intensify the popular steadfastness.

It is not Hochstein who imposes his conditions, but rather Hezbollah’s might and heroic operations.