How Israeli strikes on Hezbollah-linked bank could hurt Lebanese civilians

Read the Full Transcript

• Geoff Bennett:

  Turning now to the Middle East, Israel has launched new attacks in Beirut, despite U.S. requests to limit strikes in the Lebanese capital. The target was a financial organization that Israel and the U.S. call Hezbollah's bank, but the bank also provides loans to Lebanese civilians. And human rights groups worry the strikes only worsen the country's financial and humanitarian crises.

  That's as the U.S. is looking into a leaked document revealing Israel's preparations for attacking Iran.

  Nick Schifrin reports.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Overnight, right outside the Beirut Airport's gates, an Israeli airstrike. Israel ordered the area evacuated before massive airstrikes that destroyed entire buildings and burned storefronts in Hezbollah's stronghold in Southern Beirut.

  By day, those buildings lay crumpled next to apartment complexes whose sides are now blown out. The strikes hit from Northern Lebanon in the hills of the Beqaa Valley to Zahrani in the south.

• Ahmed, Lebanon Resident (through interpreter):

  Our store and our livelihood are gone. This neighborhood is all civilian. Our store is right there, and everything is gone.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Across the country, the targets were Al-Qard al-Hasan that Israel and the U.S. Treasury say Hezbollah uses to manage the group's finances.

  Herzi Halevi is Israel's top general on a visit today to Southern Lebanon.

  Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Chief of Staff, Israeli Defense Forces (through interpreter): We struck close to 30 targets across Lebanon, Hezbollah's financial system, Al-Qard al-Hasan, which receives funds from Iran, provides loans, and ultimately finances Hezbollah's terrorism.

  Matthew Levitt, Washington Institute for Near East Policy: One of the things that's unique about Al-Qard al-Hasan is that it is primarily involved in cash and in gold. And so it is possible, by destroying the right brick-and-mortar Al-Qard al-Hasan entities to destroy a lot of their U.S. dollars.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Matt Levitt directs the Washington Institute's Counterterrorism and Intelligence Program and is the former deputy assistant secretary for intelligence at Treasury.

• Matthew Levitt:

  What the Israelis do want to do is make sure that Hezbollah can't finance its militia terrorist activity and will have difficulty rebuilding itself once the dust settles.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But the airstrikes have sparked a humanitarian crisis and driven a quarter of the country to flee their homes.

• Damien Marquet, International Rescue Committee:

  There is no safe place and they just don't know how to cope because they're just fearful of life.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Damien Marquet is the Lebanon emergency team leader for the International Rescue Committee, which says 90 percent of the population is not able to meet its basic needs.

• Damien Marquet:

  People in the streets will say, we just need a roof. People who had a roof will say, like, we need shelter, we need a blanket, we need a mattress, we need water, we need food.

  Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense: The numbers of casualties have been — civilian casualties have been far too high.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Even before today, U.S. officials objected to the extent of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut. Today, top presidential envoy Amos Hochstein blamed Hezbollah and acknowledged the destruction the war had wrought.

  Amos Hochstein, White House Special Envoy to Lebanon: A resolution was possible, but it was rejected. And the situation has escalated out of control, out of control, as we feared that it could.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Israelis today remain focused on Hezbollah rockets and drones, more than 170 intercepted today, including above the heads of mourners who took cover at a cemetery as they buried a man killed this past weekend by a Hezbollah strike nearby in Northern Israel.

  And Israel is preparing to strike Iran for its unprecedented attack of 180 ballistic missiles on October 1. An Israeli official tells "PBS News Hour" the Israeli Cabinet has not yet approved the response. But a document posted online last week reveals the U.S. spy satellites picked up Israel preparing long-range air-launched ballistic missiles, covert drone operations, and conducting a second large military exercise, but no indication that Israel intends to use a nuclear weapon.

  U.S. officials said today they do not expect additional similar documents to go public, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken left today for his 11th trip to Israel since the October 7 attacks.

  For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

Improved audio player available on our mobile page