Hezbollah expands financial wing as Lebanon’s banking crisis continues

Workers carry out renovation works outside the headquarters of the Banque du Liban (Lebanese Central Bank) in the capital Beirut. (AFP file photo)
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Updated 18 February 2023
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Hezbollah expands financial wing as Lebanon’s banking crisis continues

  • The association accused the state of having spent more than $20 billion since 2019 in support of smuggling — by subsidizing materials being illegally taken into Syria — and to maintain an exchange rate of LBP1,500 to the dollar

BEIRUT: The Association of Banks in Lebanon has warned against “a plan to systematically destroy the banking sector, carried out by a group of no more than 50 mercenaries.”

The association was referring to a group of protesters who set banks alight on Thursday. It released a statement saying: “The funds needed to pay off your deposits are not with the banks, so entering them by force, destroying them, or breaking their contents will not benefit you. You are only harming yourselves and reducing the chances of regaining your rights. The time has come for you to realize who took away your rights and who you should direct your arrows at and pressure to recover them.”

ABL said it was baffled by all the accusations that its strike is contributing to the depreciation of the local currency. “If banks close, they are accused of devaluating the local currency; if they open, they are accused of playing the market.

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Lebanese economic bodies denounced the attacks on the banking sector, stressing that everyone needs to act rationally and responsibly to overcome the prevailing crises with the fewest possible losses, and to preserve the rights of depositors.

“The banks deposit their customers’ deposits with the Banque du Liban, in (accordance with) BDL’s circulars and in line with the principles of global banking. These funds were used to support the exchange rate and to finance the state, which then failed to return them. Some parties set out to absolve the state of its obligations and, because of these dealings, banks lost all their private money, which amounted to over $24 billion. Still, banks are accused of seizing deposits and lending them to the BDL (out of) greed.”

The association accused the state of having spent more than $20 billion since 2019 in support of smuggling — by subsidizing materials being illegally taken into Syria — and to maintain an exchange rate of LBP1,500 to the dollar.

It said: “Banks had lent over $55 billion in deposits and are working to recover them in order to return them to the depositors, so most judicial decisions oblige them to collect these debts on the basis of the official exchange rate prior to the collapse — i.e. 1,507 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, or, at best, according to a banker’s draft drawn from the BDL, equal to less than 15 percent of the value of the loan it obtained. So how can banks return the deposits to their customers now?”

One economic observer feared that the banks would be dragged into an open strike, leading to complete closure, following the attacks on various branches, thus putting them in direct confrontation with citizens.

On Saturday, Lebanese economic bodies denounced the attacks on the banking sector, stressing that everyone needs to act rationally and responsibly to overcome the prevailing crises with the fewest possible losses, and to preserve the rights of depositors.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah has announced the opening of a new branch of its Al-Qard Al-Hasan Association, which is subject to US sanctions, in the predominantly Druze and Christian Souk Al-Gharb Aley area, where the party has little to no presence.

Al-Qard Al-Hasan is described as Hezbollah’s financial wing, so the new branch reveals growth in Hezbollah’s financial institutions at the expense of the state’s, which are collapsing.

An economic observer, who asked to remain anonymous, noted that Al-Qard Al-Hasan seems to have benefitted from the banks’ decline and their inability to grant loans, and has stepped in to fill the gap by providing loans in exchange for mortgages of gold or property.

“This association lends money and keeps mortgages until it collects the amount, and, in the event that the customer does not clear the loan, it sells the gold or real estate,” they said.

The association’s files were hacked a year ago and some data was leaked, including information about depositors and borrowers. The leaks showed that the association possesses deposits amounting to around $500 million and had provided loans worth $450 million.

The Al-Qard Al-Hasan Association is not licensed by the BDL, and cannot be pursued or held accountable by the judiciary in the event that a borrower encounters any problems.

Former MP Mustafa Alloush told Arab News: “By opening this new branch, Hezbollah is trying to give the impression that it is non-sectarian and for all people. The fact is, the party does not make profits from this association, as it does from cross-border smuggling, captagon trade, and the collapse of the state.”

He continued: “The state’s hands are tied; what’s left of the state is unable to take decisions unless the constitution is applied and the reforms that Lebanon committed to are implemented.”

Alloush added that banks could benefit from the riots and use them as an excuse to put pressure on the state so it would not be the only one responsible for the loss of people’s deposits, but become a “partner in crime” with the state and the BDL.

 


Thousands mourn top Iranian military commanders and scientists killed in Israeli strikes

Updated 28 June 2025
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Thousands mourn top Iranian military commanders and scientists killed in Israeli strikes

  • Caskets of Guard chief Gen. Hossein Salami and Gen. Amir Ali Hajjizadeh and others were driven on trucks along the capital
  • Saturday’s ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the ceasefir

DUBAI: Thousands of mourners lined the streets of downtown Tehran on Saturday for the funeral of the head of the Revolutionary Guard and other top commanders and nuclear scientists killed during a 12-day war with Israel.

The caskets of Guard’s chief Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajjizadeh and others were driven on trucks along the capital’s Azadi Street.

Salami and Hajjizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war, June 13, as Israel launched a war it said meant to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, specifically targeting military commanders, scientists and nuclear facilities.

Over 12 days before a ceasefire was declared on Tuesday, Israel claimed it killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites. More than 1,000 people were killed, including at least 417 civilians, according to the Washington-based Human Rights Activists group.

Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people.

Saturday’s ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the ceasefire, and Iranian state television reported that they were for 60 people in total, including four women and four children.

Authorities closed government offices to allow public servants to attend the ceremonies.

Iran has always insisted its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. But Israel views it as an existential threat and said its military campaign was necessary to prevent Iran from building an atomic weapon.


Yemen missile launched toward Israel ‘most likely’ intercepted, Israeli army says

Updated 28 June 2025
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Yemen missile launched toward Israel ‘most likely’ intercepted, Israeli army says

  • Houthis have been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza
  • Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted

The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile launched from Yemen toward Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted.”
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement — which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza — with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.


Sudan’s military accepts UN proposal of a weeklong ceasefire in El Fasher for aid distribution

Updated 28 June 2025
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Sudan’s military accepts UN proposal of a weeklong ceasefire in El Fasher for aid distribution

  • Sudan plunged into war in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF escalated into battles
  • The war has also driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine

CAIRO: Sudan’s military agreed to a proposal from the United Nations for a weeklong ceasefire in El Fasher to facilitate UN aid efforts to the area, the army said Friday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called Sudanese military leader Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and asked him for the humanitarian truce in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, to allow aid delivery.

Burhan agreed to the proposal and stressed the importance of implementing relevant UN Security Council resolutions, but it’s unknown whether the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces would agree and comply with the ceasefire.

“We are making contacts with both sides with that objective, and that was the fundamental reason for that phone contact. We have a dramatic situation in El Fasher,” Guterres told reporters on Friday.

No further details were revealed about the specifics of the ceasefire, including when it could go into effect.

Sudan plunged into war in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF escalated into battles in the capital, Khartoum, and spread across the country, killing more than 20,000 people.

The war has also driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine. UNICEF said earlier this year that an estimated 61,800 children have been internally displaced since the war began.

Guterres said on Friday that a humanitarian truce is needed for effective aid distribution, and it must be agreed upon several days in advance to prepare for a large-scale delivery in the El Fasher area, which has seen repeated waves of violence recently.

El-Fasher, more than 800 kilometers southwest of Khartoum, is under the control of the military. The RSF has been trying to capture El Fasher for a year to solidify its control over the entire Darfur region. The paramilitary’s attempts included launching repeated attacks on the city and two major famine-stricken displacement camps on its outskirts.


Trump hopeful for Gaza ceasefire, possibly ‘next week’

Updated 15 min 44 sec ago
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Trump hopeful for Gaza ceasefire, possibly ‘next week’

  • United Nations officials on Friday said the GHF system was leading to mass killings of people seeking aid, drawing accusations from Israel that the UN was “aligning itself with Hamas”

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump voiced optimism Friday about a new ceasefire in Gaza, as criticism grew over mounting civilian deaths at Israeli-backed food distribution centers in the territory.

Asked by reporters how close a ceasefire was between Israel and Hamas, Trump said: “We think within the next week, we’re going to get a ceasefire.”

The United States brokered a ceasefire in the devastating conflict in the waning days of former president Joe Biden’s administration, with support from Trump’s incoming team.

Israel broke the ceasefire in March, launching new devastating attacks on Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman says mediators are engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from this week's ceasefire with Iran and work towards a truce in the Gaza Strip.

“If we don't utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it's an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past. We don't want to see that again,” Majed al-Ansari said in a Friday interview with AFP.

Israel also stopped all food and other supplies from entering Gaza for more than two months, drawing warnings of famine.

Israel has since allowed a resumption of food through the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which involves US security contractors with Israeli troops at the periphery.

United Nations officials on Friday said the GHF system was leading to mass killings of people seeking aid, drawing accusations from Israel that the UN was “aligning itself with Hamas.”

Eyewitnesses and local officials have reported repeated killings of Palestinians at distribution centers over recent weeks in the war-stricken territory, where Israeli forces are battling Hamas militants.

The Israeli military has denied targeting people and GHF has denied any deadly incidents were linked to its sites.

But following weeks of reports, UN officials and other aid providers on Friday denounced what they said was a wave of killings of hungry people seeking aid.

“The new aid distribution system has become a killing field,” with people “shot at while trying to access food for themselves and their families,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian affairs (UNWRA).

“This abomination must end through a return to humanitarian deliveries from the UN including @UNRWA,” he wrote on X.

The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.

The country’s civil defense agency has also repeatedly reported people being killed while seeking aid.

“People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“The search for food must never be a death sentence.”

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) branded the GHF relief effort “slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid.”

That drew an angry response from Israel, which said GHF had provided 46 million meals in Gaza.

“The UN is doing everything it can to oppose this effort. In doing so, the UN is aligning itself with Hamas, which is also trying to sabotage the GHF’s humanitarian operations,” the foreign ministry said.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a report in left-leaning daily Haaretz that military commanders had ordered troops to shoot at crowds near aid distribution sites to disperse them even when they posed no threat.

Haaretz said the military advocate general, the army’s top legal authority, had instructed the military to investigate “suspected war crimes” at aid sites.

The Israeli military declined to comment to AFP on the claim.

Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz that their country “absolutely rejects the contemptible blood libels” and “malicious falsehoods” in the Haaretz article.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said 80 Palestinians had been killed on Friday by Israeli strikes or fire across the Palestinian territory, including 10 who were waiting for aid.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the incidents, and denied its troops fired in one of the locations in central Gaza where rescuers said one aid seeker was killed.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said six people were killed in southern Gaza near one of the distribution sites operated by GHF, and one more in a separate incident in the center of the territory, where the army denied shooting “at all.”

Another three people were killed by a strike while waiting for aid southwest of Gaza City, Bassal said.

Elsewhere, eight people were killed “after an Israeli air strike hit Osama Bin Zaid School, which was housing displaced persons” in northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said they shelled an Israeli vehicle east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza on Friday.

The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas-ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said they attacked Israeli soldiers in at least two other locations near Khan Yunis in coordination with the Al-Qassam Brigades.

Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,331 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.


Child laborers among 19 dead in Egypt road accident: state media

Updated 28 June 2025
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Child laborers among 19 dead in Egypt road accident: state media

  • Most of the victims were teenage girls working as day laborers

CAIRO: A road accident in northern Egypt killed 19 people on Friday, most of them teenage girls working as day laborers, state media reported.

A truck collided with the minibus carrying the laborers to their place of work from their home village of Kafr Al-Sanabsa in the Nile Delta, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Cairo, state-owned newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm reported.

According to a list of the names and ages of the dead published by another state-owned daily, Al-Ahram, most of the workers were teenagers — two of them just 14.

Egyptian media dubbed the girls “martyrs for their daily bread.”

Road accidents are common in Egypt, where traffic rules are unevenly enforced and many roads are in poor repair.

Accidents often involve underage laborers traveling to work in overcrowded minibuses in rural areas.

At least 1.3 million minors are engaged in some form of child labor in Egypt, according to official figures.