What is Hezbollahs Al Qard Al Hassan financial institution?

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Israeli airstrikes overnight struck branches of a Hezbollah-linked financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, further escalating Israel's offensive against the Iran-backed Lebanese group.

What is Al-Qard Al-Hassan (AQAH)?

- Founded in 1983, Al-Qard Al-Hassan describes itself as a charitable organization that provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. It has more than 30 branches, most located in predominantly Shi'ite Muslim areas of Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley. It operates under a license granted by the Lebanese government.

- Many people from Hezbollah's Shi'ite constituency have borrowed from Al-Qard Al-Hassan, taking hard currency loans against the value of jewelry - for example - repayable over several years on flexible terms. Its role expanded as Lebanon sank into a deep financial crisis beginning in 2019, freezing ordinary Lebanese out of their savings. Hezbollah encouraged Lebanese from all sects and political factions to use AQAH.

- The U.S. Department of the Treasury, which sanctioned AQAH in 2007, has said that Hezbollah uses Al-Qard Al-Hassan as a cover to manage "financial activities and gain access to the international financial system." "While AQAH purports to serve the Lebanese people, in practice it illicitly moves funds through shell accounts and facilitators, exposing Lebanese financial institutions to possible sanctions," it said in a later statement, sanctioning individuals linked to it in 2021.

- Hezbollah's late leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sept. 27, spoke about AQAH many times. In 2020, after Al-Qard Al-Hassan was hacked and the names of its clients were published, Nasrallah said the aim was to scare away its users in a bid to make the institution collapse. He urged Hezbollah supporters to respond by depositing any funds they had at home with Al-Qard Al-Hassan. He described it as an organization supported and protected by Hezbollah.

- Al-Qard Al-Hassan is estimated to have hundreds of thousands of clients, according to two regional financial sources.

Reuters