Situation at a glance: Israel is again attacking the southern suburbs of Beirut

The southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut have been rocked again by Israeli air strikes. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, several people are said to have died. Israel’s military had asked residents of certain buildings to evacuate and is continuing to attack the pro-Iranian Hezbollah’s financial structures in the country. The Iran-backed Shiite militia has hidden cash and gold worth hundreds of millions of dollars in a bunker under a hospital in southern Beirut, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in the evening. The information could not be independently verified.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Izchak Herzog in Israel today at the start of another trip to the Middle East. There and in other countries in the region, Blinken wrote on Platform the country’s enemies in Gaza and Lebanon continue.

Army spokesman: Are not at war with Lebanon’s people

Army spokesman Hagari called on the Lebanese government and international organizations not to allow Hezbollah to use the assets stashed under the al-Sahel clinic in southern Beirut for terrorist purposes and attacks on Israel. The air force was watching the area, he warned. But the hospital itself will not be attacked. “I want to emphasize: We are not at war with the Lebanese people,” said Hagari.

The hospital’s director, Fadi Alameh, denied the allegations and announced in an interview on Lebanese television that the hospital would be evacuated as a precaution. The clinic has no connections to political parties, he asserted. Alameh called on the Lebanese army and authorities to search the building.

Meanwhile, attacks continue in southern Beirut. As the Lebanese state news agency NNA reported, the Haret Hreik district was among those hit. According to Lebanese information, one of the Israeli air strikes is said to have hit the area around the university hospital.

Israel continues to attack Hezbollah’s financial structure

The Israeli army has also been targeting branches of the Al-Kard Al-Hassan association, a kind of Hezbollah bank, since Monday night. Almost 30 targets across Lebanon had been bombed, Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi said early in the evening. An underground depot containing cash and gold worth millions was hit in Beirut, army spokesman Hagari said. The military estimates the assets in the unattacked bunker under the al-Sahel clinic in the south of the capital to be around half a billion dollars.

The successor to the recently killed finance chief of the Hezbollah militia was also eliminated in a targeted air strike in Syria’s capital Damascus, said Hagari. The Syrian state news agency Sana reported that two civilians were killed and three others were injured in the attack. A destroyed car could be seen in pictures. This information cannot be independently verified either.

Israel’s army emphasized that Hezbollah should not be given the opportunity to regroup. The two main sources of income for their terrorist activities are direct donations from Iran in the form of cash and gold – as well as the citizens of Lebanon, Hagari said. People would be offered financial services through the Al-Kard Al-Hassan association. As Iran continues to smuggle US dollars into Lebanon, the national currency will be devalued and the already severe economic crisis in Lebanon will be further exacerbated.

Israel: Hezbollah also finances itself through companies in Turkey

Hagari also accused Hezbollah of additionally financing itself through companies in Turkey, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. In his video message, he did not say which companies were involved in the NATO country Türkiye.

Hezbollah, which is also allied with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has been attacking Israel with rockets and drones almost daily since the Gaza war began in October last year. The army announced in the evening that around 170 projectiles were fired at Israel on Monday. The sirens then wailed again at night in northern Israel.

The Hezbollah militia has declared that it will only stop its attacks on Israel once a ceasefire has been agreed for Gaza. However, the talks about an end to the fighting, which have been brokered by the USA, Egypt and Qatar, have not progressed for months. The recent killing of Hamas leader Jihia Sinwar did not change this. It remains to be seen whether US Secretary of State Blinken’s renewed trip to the Middle East will have any effect.

The war was triggered by the massacre by Hamas and other extremists from Gaza in Israel on October 7 last year, in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. Israel therefore wants to destroy Hamas, which has ruled the sealed-off Gaza Strip for years. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 42,000 people have died since the war began. It is not clear how many of them are civilians, and the information cannot be independently verified. According to the UN, the numbers are largely credible and most of those killed are women and children.

Israel accuses UN aid workers in the Gaza Strip of lying

Meanwhile, Israel is strongly defending itself against the accusation made by UN aid workers that the Jewish state is blocking humanitarian aid for civilians in the coastal area. The deputy director of the United Nations Palestinian Relief Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip, Sam Rose, told CNN that “almost nothing” of aid was currently arriving there. “That’s a lie, Sam Rose, and you know it,” Israeli Palestinian Affairs Authority Cogat replied on Platform X.

Since May, 500,000 tons of aid supplies have arrived in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA is simply incapable of distributing the goods and is trying to cover this up by spreading falsehoods, the Israeli authority said. The information provided by both sides could not initially be independently verified.

The USA, as its most important ally, gave Israel a deadline of 30 days last week to improve supplies for the people in the Gaza Strip. Otherwise, US arms deliveries to Israel could be at risk.