[NAHARNET] Israeli Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM! ...
s were targeting Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday night, after the Israeli army warned that it would target Hezbollah's al-Qard al-Hassan financial institution in Haret Hreik, Shiyyah, Ghobeiri, Choueifat, Tahwitat al-Ghadir and Burj al-Barajneh.
The Israeli army also warned that it would strike neighborhoods in Baalbek, Hermel and Haret al-Fikani in the Bekaa.
Israel's military had earlier announced that it would attack a "large number of targets" linked to al-Qard al-Hassan.
The registered nonprofit NGO is sanctioned by both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat Frational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
and provides financial services but is also used by ordinary Lebanese.
Israel's announcement came a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called civilian casualties in Leb
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
"far too high" in the Israel-Hezbollah war, and urged Israel to scale back some strikes, especially in and around Beirut.
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