Israel on Sunday night began fresh, heavy airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs as well as in the Bekka Valley in the east of Lebanon, for the first time declaring it would target banks suspected of financing Hezbollah.

"The air force will launch extensive strikes on targets in the southern suburb of Beirut, targeting Hezbollah-linked economic assets," IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said as strikes were underway. Buildings that belong to al-Qard al-Hassan Association are at the top of the list, identified by the Israelis as long associated with the Shia paramilitary group backed by Iran.

With at least 30 branches across Lebanon, and 15 Beirut locations in bustling neighborhood, al-Qard al-Hassan Association is also used by many Lebanese civilians.

The US-sanctioned bank has been around since the 1980's and is focused on providing services to Lebanon's Shiite community, which is mostly concentrated in the south.

"The purpose of the strike is to target the ability of Hezbollah to function both during the war but also afterwards to rebuild and to rearm the organization on the day after," an Israeli military statement continued.

Some dozen large airstrikes rocked Beirut's southern suburbs last night, including one or more which were very near Beirut International Airport, reportedly targeting the bank branches.

The bank has sought to assure its customers it has taken "all of the necessary procedures since the beginning of the war to safeguard your deposits and valuables and can confirm that you should not worry they are safe."

A regional analyst was quoted in The Wall Street Journal as follows:

“The main loss for the people using its services will be the destruction of family gold they pawned in exchange for loans,” said Lina Khatib, director of the SOAS Middle East Institute and author of a study of Hezbollah’s influence networks.

“But for as long as Hezbollah’s external financial operations remain active, including its involvement in illicit finance internationally, and as long as Iran continues to fund it, Al-Qard Al-Hassan’s clients will expect Hezbollah to be able to compensate them for their losses,” she said.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said over the weekend that at least 2,464 Lebanese have been killed since hostilities began in Oct.2023; however, it remains unclear how many of that figure are combatants vs. civilians.

The whole region remains on edge awaiting Israel's retaliation against Iran, which US intelligence has said is "almost certainly" going to happen. A Bloomberg note indicates:

Oil prices bounce back from last week’s steep fall with Brent crude futures climbing 1.3% to around $74 a barrel. Traders are likely monitoring tensions in the Middle East after Israeli PM Netanyahu held a series of meetings with top security aides to discuss the next attack on Iran. Israel is discussing its attack on Iran after a Hezbollah drone exploded near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home at the weekend.

Below are more regional developments via Newsquawk...