The group Hezbollah is accused of using a hospital in Beirut, the capital of Lebanonto hide gold and millions of dollars in cash. The suspicion was raised by the Israeli Army, which, on the night of Monday 21st, said it had found more than 500 million dollars from the group in the basement of a medical center known as Al-Sahel.
“It is money stolen from the citizens of Lebanon and used for terrorist activities,” the Israel Defense Forces accused.
According to Israeli Army spokesman Daniel Hagari, the money “could have been used to rehabilitate Lebanon, but it was used to rehabilitate Hezbollah.” He indicated that an Israeli aircraft would be monitoring the hospital, but that he did not intend to attack the unit.
Hezbollah’s central financial facility also served as Nasrallah’s hiding place for years.
Watch to see where it’s located: pic.twitter.com/0wbAyhr8XH
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 22, 2024
The hospital director, Fadi Alameh, told the agency Reuters that Israel’s claims are false. He accused the country of promoting slander, even asking the Lebanese army to visit the site and reveal that there were only operating rooms and a morgue.
Hidden money
Much of the international community considers Hezbollah a terrorist group. This means that, in practice, companies from countries that reject Hezbollah cannot formally do business with the group.
This requires Hezbollah to have some – or some – basic source of financing. One of them is the Iran. At the same press conference in which he mentioned the money hidden in the hospital, Hagari detailed how Hezbollah’s financing structure worked.
According to him, Iran would use three means of transferring resources to the group. The first is by sending oil and money to the Syria. With the sale of oil made in the neighboring country, the profit would be sent to Hezbollah.
The second would have a diplomatic guise. The transfer would be made to the Iranian embassy in Beirut, also using resources from the sale of oil.
The third, finally, would come from the sale of assets by Iran. An example of this would be the profit obtained from the export of gas to Syria.
The bunker discovered this Monday had already been guarded by Israel for some time. According to Israeli troops, that was where he was hiding. Hassan NasrallahHezbollah’s number 1, who was killed in late September.
