{"id":8952,"date":"2024-10-22T08:53:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T15:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=8952"},"modified":"2024-10-22T08:53:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T15:53:41","slug":"idf-hezbollah-hiding-500-million-in-gold-cash-in-bunker-under-beirut-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/22\/idf-hezbollah-hiding-500-million-in-gold-cash-in-bunker-under-beirut-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"IDF: Hezbollah Hiding $500 Million in Gold, Cash in Bunker Under Beirut Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If this is true and accurate, it would certainly support that Iran is working with the west through back channels to weaken Hezbollah, a dangerous element to their own security. And it would hold back the west from invading, as Iran was on the list (Maj. Gen. Wes Clark clip below). And it will hold off attempts at a color revolution as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/wesclark7version2expanded.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/idf-hezbollah-hiding-500-million-in-gold-cash-in-bunker-under-beirut-hospital\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/idf-hezbollah-hiding-500-million-in-gold-cash-in-bunker-under-beirut-hospital\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ub-divider ub_divider ub-divider-orientation-horizontal\" id=\"ub_divider_13447683-84fd-4e94-a0b9-083de72bd228\"><div class=\"ub_divider_wrapper\" style=\"position: relative; margin-bottom: 2px; width: 100%; height: 2px; \" data-divider-alignment=\"center\"><div class=\"ub_divider_line\" style=\"border-top: 2px solid #ccc; margin-top: 2px; \"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Amid operation against group\u2019s finances, military spokesman calls on Lebanon and international groups to prevent use of money to fund terror<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>By Agencies and ToI Staff<a href=\"https:\/\/static.timesofisrael.com\/www\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screen-Shot-2024-10-21-at-10.30.46-PM-e1729539182574.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-26.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8953\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-26.png 640w, https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-26-300x188.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>A graphic presented by IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari showing the location of a Hezbollah bunker, under the Al-Sahel Hospital, in the southern Beirut suburb known as Dahiyeh, October 21, 2024. (Screenshot: IDF)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Israel Defense Forces on Monday declassified intelligence on the Hezbollah terror group\u2019s finance hub, including a bunker hidden underneath a hospital in south Beirut that it said contains hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Israel expanded its campaign against Hezbollah on Sunday night, launching a series of strikes to degrade the Iran-backed terror group\u2019s ability to fund its operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Israeli Air Force carried out a series of precise strikes on these Hezbollah financial strongholds,\u201d IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne of our main targets last night was an underground vault with tens of millions of dollars in cash and gold. The money was being used to finance Hezbollah\u2019s attacks on Israel,\u201d he said, without&nbsp;specifying whether all of the money was destroyed in the strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hagari then referenced a separate bunker also allegedly filled with cash and gold under a hospital in the capital Beirut, but said the vault had not been targeted yet by the IDF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAccording to the estimates we have, there is at least half a billion dollars in dollar bills and gold stored in this bunker,\u201d Hagari said. \u201cThis money could and still can be used to rebuild the state of Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cTonight, I am going to declassify intelligence on a site that we did not strike\u2014where Hezbollah has millions of dollars in gold and cash\u2014in Hassan Nasrallah\u2019s bunker. Where is the bunker located? Directly under Al-Sahel Hospital in the heart of Beirut.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Listen to IDF Spox.\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SjMZQpKqoJ\">pic.twitter.com\/SjMZQpKqoJ<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IDF\/status\/1848436265143677104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 21, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>During the briefing, Hagari presented a map showing the location of the bunker, under Al-Sahel Hospital in the southern Beirut suburb known as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah is largely based.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He called on Lebanese authorities and international organizations to prevent Hezbollah from using \u201cthe money for terror and to attack Israel,\u201d and warned that the Israeli Air Force is monitoring the compound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asserting that Israel is at war with Hezbollah and not the Lebanese people, he said that the IDF would not launch a strike on the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-27.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8954\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-27.png 640w, https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-27-300x188.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari speaks during a press conference on Israel\u2019s strikes against Hezbollah\u2019s financial arm, October 21, 2024. (Screenshot: IDF)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier Monday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said more than two dozen targets belonging to Al-Qard Al-Hassan \u2014 a financial firm linked to Hezbollah \u2014 had been hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe struck close to 30 targets across Lebanon,\u201d Halevi said in a statement after strikes began Sunday night against the US-sanctioned association that Israel accuses of financing \u201cHezbollah\u2019s terrorist operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The announcements came as the IDF said it continued to hammer an array of Hezbollah positions across Lebanon, including strikes against about 300 targets in the previous 24 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Al-Qard Al-Hassan is a financial firm, officially registered as a charity, that has been offering customers credit in exchange for gold deposits on an interest-free basis since the 1980s. Israel charges that Hezbollah is making money from Lebanon civilians through AQAH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The United States has long sanctioned the association, accusing Hezbollah of using it as a cover to mask its financial activities and gain access to the international financial system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn recent years, the state of Lebanon has experienced a deep financial crisis, which was exploited by Hezbollah,\u201d the IDF spokesperson said on Monday, charging that the terror group\u2019s two main sources of income are the Lebanese people and the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said that as well as transferring money to Hezbollah via Syria, including \u201csuitcases of cash and gold in planes to the Iranian embassy in Beirut,\u201d the terror group has \u201cbuilt factories in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Turkey that provide income for its terrorist operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Sunday evening, Israel struck AQAH branches in Beirut, the eastern Beqaa Valley and south Lebanon. Hagari presented a map of the targets in his Monday briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-28.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8955\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-28.png 640w, https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-28-300x188.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>A graphic presented by IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari showing the location of Israeli strikes against Hezbollah\u2019s financial arm, October 21, 2024. (Screenshot: IDF)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Al-Qard Al-Hassan says it has more than 30 branches nationwide, mainly in Hezbollah bastions including Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, but also in central Beirut and in other major cities such as Sidon and Tyre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hagari also confirmed that Israel carried out an airstrike in Syria on Monday targeting the head of Hezbollah\u2019s financial arm responsible for funneling cash from Iran to its proxy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The IDF did not name the Hezbollah official, but said that he had only been in the position a few weeks since his predecessor was killed.<a href=\"https:\/\/static.timesofisrael.com\/www\/uploads\/2024\/10\/AFP__20241021__36KK9TJ__v7__HighRes__SyriaConflictIsraelPalestinian.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-29.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8956\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-29.png 640w, https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-29-300x188.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Syrian emergency and security services inspect the wreckage of a car that exploded in Damascus on October 21, 2024. (Maher Al Mounes\/AFP)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Israel in late September widened the focus of its military operations to Lebanon after over a year of cross-border attacks by Hezbollah-led forces in solidarity with Hamas \u2014 another Iranian-backed terror group \u2014 amid the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas\u2019s October 7 onslaught, due to fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack, and amid increasing rocket fire by the terror group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The attacks on northern Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 29 civilians. In addition, 43 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two soldiers have been killed in a drone attack from Iraq, and there have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The IDF estimates that around 2,000 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups, along with hundreds of civilians, have also been reported killed in Lebanon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If this is true and accurate, it would certainly support that Iran is working with the west through back channels to weaken Hezbollah, a dangerous element to their own security. And it would hold back the west from invading, as Iran was on the list (Maj. Gen. Wes Clark clip below). And it will hold [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8957,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8952\/revisions\/8957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}