Hezbollah is not a Microfinance Bank: The Lebanese Bank Described as an Alternative to the Grameen Bank
Over the past year, Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets, missiles and drones into Israel, with some hitting the country’s populous center.
Late Sunday an Israeli military spokesperson published messages online in Arabic instructing Lebanese civilians to move away from specific buildings that house branches of the bank, called Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
UN representatives said warnings caused panic in parts of Lebanon, but Israel’s foreign minister said the military would continue to attack Hezbollah.
The Hezbollah member insisted that the group didn’t profit from Al-Qard Al-Hassan. The financial institution offers a variety of services for consumers in Lebanon and also gives scholarships to students in other countries. “We tell the depositors in Al-Qard Al-Hassan that you will not lose a single penny,” he wrote on Telegram.
The director of the Carnegie Middle East Center wrote on social media about Al-qard al-hassan as amicrofinance institution that was modeled after the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. She said the Lebanese institution “provides small loans to low income individuals against specific assets” — in some cases allowing women to offer their jewelry as collateral, in a country where the mainstream internationally linked banking system has repeatedly collapsed.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s House is in flames: Israeli air strikes target militants and prime minister Safieddine in Caesarea
Many in Lebanon fear Israel could target its hospitals in the same way it has raided medical facilities across Gaza. The medical staff at the hospitals denied the allegations of hospitals being used for military purposes.
Israel’s Foreign Minister written on social media “Beirut is in flames“. “Hezbollah has paid and will continue to pay a heavy price for its attacks on northern Israel and its rocket fire.”
Precise details of fatalities and injuries tied to the strikes overnight into Monday have not yet been confirmed. Damage to other floors in the same building as a result of the strikes on one of the financial branches was reported by the National News Agency. And in the city of Tyre, the agency reported that “severe damage to surrounding homes” and to a nearby radio station had resulted from the strike on one branch.
Across Lebanon on Saturday, the country’s Health Ministry recorded 16 people killed and 59 wounded people, many of them in the country’s south close to Israel’s border — bringing the total death toll since the start of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah last October to 2,464.
A drone that the Iranian state news agency says Hezbollah sent from Lebanon had targeted the family residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the northern city of Caesarea, according to the prime minister’s office. Sara Netanyahu called it an attack on everyone in Israel and an attempt to kill the prime minister.
Efforts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah fell apart after Israeli strikes killed the militant group’s top leader and most of his commanders.
Safieddine was expected to succeed Nasralla, the founder of the group who was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
The smoke and debris from the collapse flew into the air a hundred meters from where the militant group’s spokesman had just spoken to reporters about the Israeli prime minister’s house.
Israel and Hamas Digging in: Antony Blinken at the Rafik Hariri Hospital During the 11th Israel-Hamas War
The secretary of State met with Netanyahu as he traveled to the region for the 11th time since the Israel-Hamas war. After Israel’s killing of a Hamas leader last week, Antony is trying to get a cease-fire in Gaza. Israel and Hamas seem to be digging in.
Blinken landed hours after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in populated areas and at its international airport, but causing no apparent damage or injuries.
Associated Press reporters visited the Rafik Hariri University Hospital on Tuesday. They saw broken windows in the hospital’s pharmacy and dialysis center, which was full of patients at the time.
Staff at another Beirut hospital feared it would be targeted after Israel alleged that Hezbollah had stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in its basement, without providing evidence.
The director of the hospital denied the accusations and invited journalists to visit the hospital on Tuesday. AP reporters saw no sign of militants or anything out of the ordinary.
The fighting between Hezbollah and Israel intensified earlier this month as Israel launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
The State Department had said in advance that Blinken would focus on ending the war in Gaza, securing the release of hostages held by Hamas, and alleviating the suffering of Palestinian civilians during his visit.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have brokered months of talks between Israel and Hamas, trying to strike a deal in which the militants would release dozens of hostages in return for an end to the war, a lasting cease-fire and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Both Israel and Hamas accused each other of making new demands and the talks stopped in August. Following the killing of Sinwar, Hamas stated that its demands had not changed.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded tens of thousands, according to local health authorities, who don’t say how many were combatants but say more than half were women and children. It has also caused major devastation across the territory and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million.
In October of 1925, Hamas killed around 1200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostages. Around 100 of the hostages are still in Gaza and a third are thought to be dead.