This week, the Israel Defense Forces launched large-scale attacks on Hezbollah’s financing pipelines with a focus on Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which helps finance the Lebanese Shiite organization’s terrorist activities. Lebanese media reported attacks over the past day with pictures of the destroyed Al-Qard Al-Hassan Bank branch in the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut. Next to the bombed bank stands a statue of Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Iranian Quds Force, who was assassinated by the United States in 2020.
Although many experts in Israel agree that the attack was a worthwhile endeavor and perhaps should have been carried out before, Dr. Udi Levy, former head of the Mossad’s Economic Warfare Division and today a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, insists it would not have been There is immediate economic damage to Hezbollah.
Levy explains. “The funds have not been there for a long time. Hezbollah withdrew the funds and assets and moved them underground. So the funds were likely not damaged.” However, the harm, according to Levy, is present among other things in the message conveyed by the attack. The message is: “We will destroy your weakest belly – money.” Without it, Hezbollah cannot rehabilitate itself.”
Levy also points out more damage done. “The crucial point from the terrorist organization’s point of view is that the IDF attack is expected to cause panic among the Shiite population, whose assets have been deposited in Qard al-Hassan. People are now expected to demand the withdrawal of their money and this could cause serious damage to Hezbollah, which is already suffering.” “I am in great distress.” He adds: “The Iranians realize that without money, Hezbollah will lose its grip on Lebanon, and for this reason Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a religious fatwa two weeks ago stipulating that half of the donations should go to Lebanon and Hezbollah.”
Loans worth $480 million
Al-Qard Al-Hassan is not a bank in the classical sense of the word. It was founded in 1982 by Hezbollah itself. It offers customers three different types of accounts and even grants interest-free loans against collateral (such as gold). However, for 17 years the bank has been subject to US sanctions, which prevent direct access to the global banking system.
These sanctions did not prevent the bank from thriving. According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), the volume of loans provided by the Qard Al Hassan Association increased from $76.5 million in 2007 to $480 million in 2019. The total activity of the Association of Banks until 2019 is estimated at approximately $3.5 billion. According to estimates by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Hezbollah has stored hundreds of millions of dollars in approximately 31 branches of the association.
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How was the terrorist organization able to achieve this despite the sanctions? Al-Qard Al-Hassan manages “private” accounts in entire Lebanese banks. When Iran wants to transfer money to the terrorist organization and its members, it does so through accounts in various Lebanese banks. There, one of the Al-Qard Al-Hassan employees works secretly, withdrawing money and depositing it in the association. The US Treasury Department is aware of this method of operation, and has imposed personal sanctions on six employees of the Hezbollah Association, noting that the six transferred more than $500,000 over a decade using this method.
Levy says: “Israel must continue to target funds and convey clear messages to Lebanese banks not to cooperate with Hezbollah.” “During my time, I put pressure on the Americans to put pressure on Lebanese banks. Now, the bankers who helped Hezbollah are fleeing Lebanon.”
“The blockade must be imposed on ports and airports.”
Hezbollah’s annual budget is about $1 billion, about 70% of which comes from Iran and about 30% from illegal activities, most of which are worldwide and rely on drug trafficking. These activities are being carried out in various places, especially in Syria, in cooperation with the Assad regime, and in Latin America and West Africa.
An investigation by the French newspaper Le Monde, published last week, concluded that the Shiite terrorist organization uses Qard Al Hassan, among other things, to collect money from Lebanese communities in Ivory Coast and Guinea – on the basis of laundering money from drug sales. According to Levy, the lion’s share of Hezbollah’s drug industry funds in West Africa and Latin America arrives in Beirut through air and sea ports.
“Israel should impose a blockade on seaports and airports, and this would make Hezbollah’s economic collapse possible,” he says. “If Israel also carried out a symbolic act of attacking Hezbollah drug factories in southern Syria, that would also be a fatal blow.” A message to the Jordanians and Saudis that we are helping them and dealing directly with the money flowing from their countries to the pharmaceutical industry, and if that happens, a new reality will emerge that conveys a clear message to the Iranians: Your economic system is within our reach.”
“Even if we don’t hit the money, the message is clear.”
The IDF attack on Hezbollah’s financial system was carried out just hours before US envoy Amos Hochstein returned to Beirut, with Israel demanding an end to the fighting in Lebanon. According to a report by the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat in London, Hochstein will present Israel’s demands to stop the fighting through diplomatic channels, at the heart of which is to allow Israel freedom to act against Israel. Renewed Hezbollah reinforcement in the border area.
According to Levy, Israel now has a rare opportunity to create a significant loss of confidence in Hezbollah for the Lebanese people, including the Shiite population. “The terrorist organization felt comfortable after the Israeli attacks to send property taxes to the Shiite homes that were destroyed, and to provide assistance, but the moment a financial problem arises it loses its control over the population.”
According to Levy, the move against Qard Hassan also includes a message to Iran. “The damage to strategic economic assets is of great importance. Even if we do not achieve damage to funds, the message is clear – economics is psychology after all. Therefore, it is expected that there will be an uproar among the Shiite population ‘in the money with Qard Hassan.’”
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on October 21, 2024.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
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