Israeli air strikes on locations linked to al-Qard al-Hassan, a non-profit financial institution associated with Hezbollah, must be investigated as war crimes as they do not constitute legitimate military targets under international humanitarian law, Amnesty International said today. Since 2 March, the Israeli military has announced that it would target all branches of al-Qard al-Hassan across Lebanon and by 10 March said that it had struck “around 30 branches” during the past week. Many al-Qard al-Hassan offices are located within residential buildings or in crowded neighbourhoods. The attacks across Beirut’s southern suburbs, south Lebanon and the Beqaa, have destroyed facilities used by tens of thousands of civilians to access financial services, including loans to pay for school fees, healthcare expenses and vehicles to commute to work. “Over and over again, the Israeli military has appeared to assume that labelling something as Hezbollah-affiliated, be that healthcare workers, homes in border villages, or financial institutions, makes it targetable. That’s wrong,” said Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. “Allegations of financial links do not, on their own, turn a civilian or a civilian building into a military objective. Distinguishing between military objectives and civilian objects is a cornerstone of international humanitarian law. Hezbollah is both a military and a political actor, but it also runs service and charity institutions staffed by civilians.” “Civilians and civilian objects do not become lawful targets simply because of an affiliation or perceived connection. Yet once again, Israel is destroying…
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