On Monday (21st October), Israel announced that it had declassified evidence that claimed the location of a hidden Hezbollah finance base underneath a Beirut hospital. It has been revealed that this Hezbollah bunker at the hospital was storing over $500 million in gold and cash.
In a press release, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said Hassan Nasrallah’s bunker had hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold, which was allegedly used to fund the Islamic terror outfit’s activities.
“Tonight, I am going to declassify intelligence on a site that we did not strike—where Hezbollah has millions of dollars in gold and cash—in Hassan Nasrallah’s bunker. Where is the bunker located? Directly under Al-Sahel Hospital in the heart of Beirut,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
“Tonight, I am going to declassify intelligence on a site that we did not strike—where Hezbollah has millions of dollars in gold and cash—in Hassan Nasrallah’s bunker. Where is the bunker located? Directly under Al-Sahel Hospital in the heart of Beirut.”
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 21, 2024
Listen to IDF Spox.… pic.twitter.com/SjMZQpKqoJ
The IDF spokesperson, however, stated that the site has not yet been struck, in spite of the purported presence of huge amounts of gold and cash. “The bunker was deliberately placed under a hospital. According to estimates, there is at least half a billion dollars in dollar bills and gold stored in this bunker. That money could have been used to rehabilitate Lebanon, but it went to rehabilitate Hezbollah. This money could and still can be used to rebuild the state of Lebanon. The [Israeli] Air Force aircraft are watching the site and will continue to track it,” Hagari said.
He added that the money that should have been used to revive the economy of Lebanon, was instead being used to fund Hezbollah. Hagari also added that Hezbollah operated factories and other resources in Syria too, to generate money for their terrorist activities, including the “suitcases full of gold and cash” it kept receiving from the government of Iran.
Notably, on Monday, Israeli forces struck numerous branches of Hezbollah-linked financial group Al-Qard Al-Hassan in the southern neighbourhoods of Beirut, across southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa Valley, the Hezbollah stronghold. The strikes caused no casualties as civilians were warned before to move away. IDF’s Arabic language spokesperson said that the Israeli strikes targeted several locations including those linked to Al Qard Al Hassan, which was allegedly used to purchase arms and pay money to Hezbollah terrorists. The IDF spokesperson added that Hezbollah maintains hundreds of millions of cash in the 30 branches and that the strikes were intended to prevent the terrorist organisation from rearming.
