Israel "aims for Hezbollah banks" in fresh Beirut airstrikes

Multiple Israeli airstrikes hit the Lebanese capital on Sunday evening after Israel reportedly aimed to target Hezbollah's financial arm, while hundreds of residents fled their homes after an evacuation order. 

Evacuation warnings affected southern Beirut, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and parts of southern Lebanon. Footage online showed plumes of fire and smoke near the country's only airport. 

Eyewitnesses, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a building located in the Chiyah neighbourhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut was reduced to rubble and the few people in the area had fled ahead of the explosion, resulting in no casualties.

An Israeli military spokesperson said earlier in a statement posted on social media platform X that it "will begin attacking infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association - get away from it immediately."

Al-Qard al-Hassan, which is sanctioned by the US and Saudi Arabia, has more than 30 branches across Lebanon, including 15 in densely populated parts of central Beirut and its suburbs. It is reportedly used by Hezbollah to manage its finances. 

There was no immediate statement from the organisation, Hezbollah, or the Lebanese government.

Asked by journalists whether the branches could be considered military targets, a senior Israeli intelligence official said: "The purpose of this strike is to target the ability of Hezbollah economic function both during the war but also afterwards to rebuild and to rearm ...on the day after."

Cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah erupted a year ago when the group began launching rockets in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

At the start of October, Israel launched a ground assault inside Lebanon in an attempt to stabilise the border region for its citizens who had fled rocket attacks in northern Israel.

ESCALATED ATTACKS

Israel has intensified its military campaigns both in Gaza and Lebanon, days after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar raised hopes of an opening for ceasefire negotiations to end more than a year of conflict.

With U.S. elections approaching, officials, diplomats and other sources in the region say Israel is seeking through military operations to try to shield its borders and ensure its rivals cannot regroup.

Israel is also preparing to retaliate for an Iranian missile barrage earlier this month, though Washington has pressed it not to strike Iranian energy facilities or nuclear sites.

Earlier on Sunday Israel said it hit Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters and an underground weapons workshop in Beirut.

Fighter jets killed three Hezbollah commanders, the Israeli military said.

Hezbollah made no immediate comment on those strikes, but said it had fired missiles at Israeli forces in Lebanon and at a base in northern Israel.

A 41-year-old Israeli colonel was killed, and another officer was wounded in combat in northern Gaza on Sunday, the Israeli military said. Israel's Channel 12 and public broadcaster Kan reported an explosive device had gone off under a tank.

Officials said rescuers were still recovering people from the rubble after an Israeli attack on the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiya that left 87 people dead or missing on Saturday, according to the health ministry - one of the highest death tolls for months from a single attack.

The strike came two weeks into a major assault around Jabalia, just south of Beit Lahiya, where Israel says its troops have been trying to root out remaining Hamas fighters.

Israel said the strike hit a Hamas target, questioning an earlier death toll of 73 released by the Hamas media office.

Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages in the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year that sparked the war in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military response in Gaza has left more than 42,500 people dead and has made most of Gaza's 2.3 million people homeless, Palestinian officials say.

Over the last year, Lebanese officials estimate that more than 2,400 people have been killed and more than 1.2 million people displaced in Lebanon. Fifty-nine people have been killed in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights over the same period, say Israeli authorities.