The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis, said the evacuation order had “spread panic” across the country. In a post to X on Sunday, she said there was only a “short time to escape to safety” before a “fiery explosion” occurred.
“Words cannot describe this panic,” Beirut resident Wafa Ezzeldin told NBC News.
“Everyone was on the street,” she said after fleeing her home and returning hours later. “Even the displaced people left the area near al-Qaad al-Hasan. The streets at night were crowded with cars and people.”
Ranim Harawani, an activist with the Development Association for People and Nature (DPNA) in the coastal town of Saida, said she and others evacuated their homes after hearing the evacuation order. In the end, she said, “there were no attacks in Saida, but people were scared and left.” She said many people returned to their homes.
Al-Qad al-Hasan (AQAH) has been under US sanctions since 2007, with the Treasury Department warning that Hezbollah is being used as a “front for controlling the terrorist group’s financial activities” and “access to international financial institutions.” It is being used to acquire system. ”
Since then, Treasury officials have said Hezbollah is using the bank to “exploit Lebanon’s already dire financial sector and deplete Lebanon’s financial resources” in the face of a protracted economic and political crisis. He continues to accuse them of doing so.
According to local media, al-Qaad al-Hasan, which means “good loan,” has more than 30 branches across Lebanon, many of them based in the Shiite-majority southern suburbs of Beirut, and at least some A residential building that seems to have ties to Lebanon.
Israel’s bank attack marked an expansion of its war against Hezbollah beyond the IDF’s targeting of Hezbollah’s military positions.
The Israel Defense Forces announced on Monday that Israeli forces also continued ground raids into southern Lebanon, dismantling “a large amount of Hezbollah weapons” and also killing Hezbollah members, including “tactical-level commanders.”
At least 2,464 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 127 children, and an estimated 1.2 million people have been displaced since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began to escalate following the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 last year, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. I am doing it. From their home.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in an interview with Saudi state news agency Al Arabiya on Monday that he believes “there is no solution other than diplomacy” to end the fighting in the region, but that Hezbollah He said he had no direct contact with him. Since the middle of last month.
UN says Israeli forces are making life ‘impossible’ in northern Gaza
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to carry out deadly attacks in northern Gaza, with dozens of people killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Beit Lahir area and nearby Jabalia refugee camp area over the weekend, local health officials said. .
The Israel Defense Forces said on Monday that its troops had killed militants and continued work over the past day to clear militant infrastructure and tunnels in the Jabalia refugee camp area. The military said troops were also operating in southern and central Gaza.
