Israel has stepped up its operations against Hezbollah in recent days, escalating on multiple fronts in response to the group’s intensified attacks into Israeli territory and its use of precision and ballistic missiles that have reshaped the battlefield.
Tel Aviv has widened its targets to include civilian-linked interests tied to the group. After striking branches of Al-Qard Al-Hasan, a financial institution directly associated with Hezbollah, it launched a series of raids on gas stations operated by Al-Amana in several villages in southern Lebanon.
Israel says the company represents “a key economic infrastructure for Hezbollah, generating millions of dollars in profits,” adding that the stations’ accounts at Al-Qard Al-Hasan are used to finance its activities.
The Israeli military said in a statement that targeting the gas stations “deals a significant blow to Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in Lebanon and to the ability of its operatives to plan attacks.”
It added that the strikes are part of broader efforts to undermine “Hezbollah’s economic entrenchment within the civilian population.”
An escalating path
Ali al-Amin, editor-in-chief of Janoubia, said the targeting of civilian institutions linked to the group “reflects an escalating trajectory in Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah, after earlier strikes focused primarily on security and military targets.”
He said this falls within “Israel’s declared efforts to uproot and eliminate the party.”
Al-Amin told Asharq Al-Awsat that the gas station network is “one source of funding and a revenue-generating institution, but certainly not among the main sources.”
An economist, who declined to be named, said Hezbollah’s core funding has historically come from abroad, whether by land, sea, or air, as well as through financial transfers and intermediaries inside Lebanon and overseas.
He said that “with the fall of the regime in Syria, land routes for funds were cut, while US-Israeli maritime control reduced transfers by sea.”
“Funds were also transported by air through Iranian diplomatic missions and Iranian aircraft, whose access to Lebanon has been blocked,” he added.
The source said “institutions linked to the party are still operating, and there are attempts to circumvent circulars issued by Lebanon’s central bank and the Justice Ministry through various intermediaries,” noting that “some of the buildings currently targeted by Israel are used to store funds.”
Direct impact on Hezbollah’s base
Efforts to financially squeeze Hezbollah are directly affecting its support base, which Israel is seeking to pressure, according to Mona Fayad, a political writer and psychology professor at the Lebanese University in Beirut.
She said “Tel Aviv is exerting pressure on this environment through various means, betting on it to mobilize and speak out against Hezbollah.”
Fayad added that “the party’s failure to provide financial support and services to its fighters, their families and its broader base is pushing its leadership to try to turn them into a pressure tool against the state, leading to internal tensions and social unrest that Israel is seeking to fuel.”
