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Israeli planes hit financial institutions during shelling of Beirut and southern Lebanon

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Israeli planes hit financial institutions during shelling of Beirut and southern Lebanon

US envoy arrives in Beirut to try to negotiate a solution to violence in Lebanon

An overnight Israeli air strike hit a branch of the Al-Qard Al-Hasan financial group in the southern suburbs of Beirut on October 21, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah (Ibrahim Amro/AFP)

Israel continues to carry out strikes in Lebanon, including targeting a number of financial institutions it says are linked to Hezbollah.

According to the official Lebanese National News Agency (NNA), Israeli strikes targeted Al-Qard Al-Hasan branches in the cities of Nabatiyeh and Tire.

Israel and the United States have accused the company of being a front for Hezbollah’s financial transactions.

On Monday, the Israeli military said it had attacked “dozens of sites and installations” across Lebanon.

The Israeli army blew up houses in a border village in southern Lebanon on Monday, the National News Agency reported.

“The hostile army blew up houses in the village of Aita al-Shaab,” the NPA said.

He added that the fighting is between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, “which is trying to advance on the ground” in the area.

US Ambassador to Beirut

US special envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in Beirut on Monday to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in an attempt to end the conflict in the country.

Berri, tasked with negotiating on behalf of Hezbollah, met with Hochstein at his residence.

‘No one is safe with Israel’: North Lebanon village reeling after deadly airstrike

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Although the envoy, who served in the Israeli army as a young man, said he wanted to end the violence as quickly as possible, he added that UN Resolution 1701, adopted to end the previous round of fighting in 2006, was good but not “good enough” .

UN Resolution 1701 states that only UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army should be stationed between the Israeli border and the Litani River, 30 kilometers north of the border.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) was created in 1978.

Following Israel’s ground invasion of southern Lebanon on October 1, Unifil positions came under Israeli fire, with at least five peacekeepers wounded.

The forced expulsion of Lebanese by the Israeli military has affected a quarter of the country, according to the UN refugee agency.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 2,350 people and wounded about 11,000 since last October, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. More than 1.2 million people were forced to flee their homes.

Meanwhile, about 50 Israelis were killed during the same period.