Hezbollah Informs Lebanese, Western Officials of ‘Inevitability’ of Retaliation to Any Israeli Strike

Druze elders and mourners pray by the coffin of Guevara Ibrahim, 11, killed in a reported strike from Lebanon two days earlier, during his funeral in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan on July 29, 2024. (AFP)
Druze elders and mourners pray by the coffin of Guevara Ibrahim, 11, killed in a reported strike from Lebanon two days earlier, during his funeral in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan on July 29, 2024. (AFP)
TT
20

Hezbollah Informs Lebanese, Western Officials of ‘Inevitability’ of Retaliation to Any Israeli Strike

Druze elders and mourners pray by the coffin of Guevara Ibrahim, 11, killed in a reported strike from Lebanon two days earlier, during his funeral in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan on July 29, 2024. (AFP)
Druze elders and mourners pray by the coffin of Guevara Ibrahim, 11, killed in a reported strike from Lebanon two days earlier, during his funeral in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan on July 29, 2024. (AFP)

Western countries intensified their warnings and contacts with Lebanese and Israeli officials to prevent the eruption of a broader conflict in Lebanon in wake of the Majdal Shams attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that left 12 youths dead.

Hezbollah has refused to offer any assurances, reiterating that it will “respond to any Israeli strike”.

Israel wants to hurt Hezbollah but not drag the Middle East into all-out war, two Israeli officials said on Monday according to Reuters.

Two other Israeli officials said Israel was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting following Saturday's rocket strike at a sports field in a Druze town that it blamed on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has denied its involvement in the attack.

Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib held talks at the Foreign Ministry with Hezbollah Arab and international relations official Ammar al-Mousawi.

The officials did not make any statements after the talks, but sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that they agreed to coordinate further with each other.

Mousawi also renewed Hezbollah’s position that the party would retaliate to the Israeli strike. “The issue has been decided and it is not up for debate,” he was quoted as saying.

The extent of the response will be up to Hezbollah’s assessment of the Israeli strike. The issue will be settled in the field, he added.

Media close to Hezbollah said western forces were insistent on knowing how Hezbollah would respond to the Israeli attack. They said Hezbollah did not offer anyone any assurances and that it was committed to the rules of engagement.

Hezbollah’s position has been conveyed to “all sides, including parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the foreign minister and US envoy Amos Hochstein.”

US and UK

Western powers have sought to contain the situation. Washington stressed the importance of preventing any escalation in wake of the Golan attack. London demanded that all sides show restraint.

While Washington has also blamed Hezbollah for the rocket strike and defended Israel's right to respond, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a phone call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday, emphasized the importance of preventing escalation of the conflict, the US State Department said.

They discussed efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to allow displaced people to return home, reported Reuters.

In Beirut, Mikati received a telephone call from British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who reiterated his call on all parties to show restraint to prevent an escalation.

He called for the peaceful resolution of conflicts through relevant international resolutions.

Fears and criticism

Fears grew in Lebanon over the eruption of a broader war. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif al-Derian said Lebanon is “constantly coming under Zionist assaults.”

“We are worried that the assaults will expand and lead to a wide regional war. This demands that we consolidate our national unity to confront these dangerous challenges,” he added ahead of a trip to Saudi Arabia.

The Lebanese Forces, meanwhile, criticized the government. LF MP Ghayath Yazbeck said: “We are prisoners of an insane war waged by Hezbollah - in the name of Iran - against Israel, while Israel is waging a war against Lebanon.”

In remarks to local radio, he warned that “the war may expand at any moment.” He also criticized Bou Habib who assured that the retaliation to the Majdal Shams attack will not target civilians or lead to a wider war.

“We cannot rely on international assurances,” said Yazbeck, demanding that the government “confront the international community, Iran and Hezbollah with the position that protects Lebanon.”

Moreover, he demanded that parties turn to international resolutions that demonstrate that Israel is an aggressor against Lebanon.

Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora urged everyone “to be alert to Israel’s hostile intentions” and warned that it would seize every opportunity “to expand its war and aggression against Lebanon and continue its genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.”

He called for uncovering the truth “behind the terrible massacre in Majdal Shams,” demanding an independent investigation by credible parties, not Israel.

Head of the Progressive Socialist Party MP Teymour Jumblatt said: “The blood shed in Majdal Shams is another black mark against the Israeli occupation.”

He saluted the “Arab people of the Golan on their united position, for averting strife and for expelling every occupier who sought to exploit this tragedy.”



Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
TT
20

Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Lebanon's central bank has banned banks and brokerages from dealing with a Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution, according to a circular, a sign of the group's diminished sway over state affairs since its devastating war with Israel.

Keeping up military pressure on the Iran-backed group, Israel on Tuesday launched some of its heaviest airstrikes since a ceasefire in November, saying it hit training camps and weapons depots in east Lebanon. A security source in Lebanon said 12 people were killed, five of them Hezbollah fighters, Reuters reported.

Hezbollah has faced mounting pressures since the war, including financial ones.

In the circular, dated July 14 and reviewed by Reuters, Banque du Liban prohibited all licensed financial institutions in Lebanon from dealing directly or indirectly with unlicensed entities and listed Hezbollah's Al-Qard Al-Hassan as an example.

The US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, saying Hezbollah used it as a cover to manage "financial activities and gain access to the international financial system".

Bolstered by its powerful arsenal, Hezbollah had long exercised decisive influence over Lebanese state affairs, but it was unable to impose its will in the formation of a post-war government in February.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan, founded in 1983, describes itself as a charitable organisation which provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. Israel struck some of its branches during its war with Hezbollah last year.

Operating as a not-for-profit organisation under a licence granted by the Lebanese government, it has more than 30 branches, mostly in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

SHADOW ECONOMY

A Lebanese official said the central bank move had been in the works for months, and reflected US pressure on Lebanon to take action against Hezbollah's financial wing.

Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, said Lebanese banks were already careful to avoid dealing with Al-Qard Al-Hassan because it is under US sanctions.

"The important point is that finally the authorities are addressing the shadow economy in Lebanon, which is the real problem," he said, adding that authorities had long failed to address its "toxic effects".

In June, the European Commission included Lebanon in an updated list of high-risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Last year, global financial crime watchdog FATF placed Lebanon on its "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny.