US Report Reveals Lebanese Banks' Ties with Al-Qard Al-Hassan

Hezbollah's Qard al-Hassan association ATM. (Twitter)
Hezbollah's Qard al-Hassan association ATM. (Twitter)
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US Report Reveals Lebanese Banks' Ties with Al-Qard Al-Hassan

Hezbollah's Qard al-Hassan association ATM. (Twitter)
Hezbollah's Qard al-Hassan association ATM. (Twitter)

A report by The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) said that the anonymous group SpiderZ that hacked Qard al-Hasan Association (AQAH) – Hezbollah's financial arm - exposed how Hezbollah transfers money and the role Lebanon’s banking system plays in the process.

It said that the US Treasury Department’s designations of Lebanese banks and of multiple Hezbollah entities, financiers, and money launderers point to the complicity of Lebanese banks in Hezbollah’s financial operations, however, the AQAH hack provided more evidence of this complicity.

“Through AQAH, Lebanon’s banks grant Hezbollah access to the international banking system, 13 years after Treasury designated AQAH,” the FDD report said.

"The hacked files include account information for nearly 400,000 individuals and entities. In addition to average Lebanese citizens, the documents exposed expatriates, Hezbollah cadres and institutions, so-called “major depositors,” Iranian entities, and, importantly, the Lebanese banks that serviced AQAH."

Despite its designation by Washington in 2007, AQAH has maintained its relationship with Lebanese banks.

The leaked documents identify banks that provided accounts and services to the Association and maintained correspondent accounts with AQAH, including seven Hezbollah officials who were sanctioned by the US.

A research fellow at FDD Tony Badran told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US sanctions against the seven Lebanese nationals it said were connected to the group and its financial firm falls in line with the 2019 US Treasury Department’s sanctions against Jammal Trust Bank SAL for allegedly facilitating banking activities for the militant group.

On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on seven Lebanese linked to Hezbollah and its financial arm.

The Treasury said six of the seven sanctioned were the group’s “shadow bankers,” who used the cover of personal accounts at certain Lebanese banks to evade sanctions against Hezbollah’s financial arm.

“Despite exposing the ties between AQAH and a number of Lebanese banks, the US Treasury did not name these banks or explain how they were part of the scheme” said Badran.

Hezbollah has used exchange houses as way stations for transferring proceeds from its various enterprises into the Lebanese banking sector, where the funds can be laundered through the international financial system.

According to the report, the exchange houses used a variant of the hawala system, which is an alternative or parallel remittance channel enabling individuals or companies to transfer money, without moving it, through a system that records credit and debit transactions.

“Unfortunately, the US Treasury Department is still trying to differentiate between banks and Hezbollah and claims that the banks were victims. However, the problem is that Hezbollah continues to transfer money under the pretext that pressure on the Lebanese banking system could lead to its collapse,” Badran explained, noting that “in reality, the system has already collapsed.”

A major Iranian account holder and depositor at AQAH is Issa Tabatabaei, who represents Khamenei in Lebanon. He helped found many of the group’s institutions, including the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee, the Martyrs Foundation, and its al-Rasoul al-Aazam hospital.

The hacked AQAH documents can help the US determine which banks that have provided services to Hezbollah are beyond salvaging and whether there is a basis for subsequent terror-finance criminal investigations.

"The relationships between Lebanon’s banks and Hezbollah should be a key factor to consider when Lebanon’s economic overhaul begins."



Influential Far-right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu over Gaza War Policy

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, also attended by Argentine President Javier Milei (not pictured), in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, also attended by Argentine President Javier Milei (not pictured), in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025
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Influential Far-right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu over Gaza War Policy

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, also attended by Argentine President Javier Milei (not pictured), in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, also attended by Argentine President Javier Milei (not pictured), in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a "grave mistake" that he said would benefit the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel's military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his "next steps" but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition, Reuters reported.

Smotrich's comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.

"... the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas," Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as "logistical support for the enemy during wartime".

The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.

The prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.

Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to UN estimates.

Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.

PRESSURE

Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.

Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.

The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.