DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip -- Israel's military announced Sunday it will now take aim at the Lebanon-based Hezbollah's financial arm and planned to attack a "large number of targets" in Beirut and elsewhere. Explosions began in Beirut's southern suburbs about an hour later.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said they were issuing evacuation warnings and "anyone who will be near the sites used to finance Hezbollah's terrorist activity is required to stay away from them immediately." The first warnings affected southern Beirut and the eastern Bekaa valley.
The strikes will target al-Qard al-Hassan "all over Lebanon," a senior Israeli intelligence official said. Al-Qard al-Hassan is a unit in Hezbollah that's used to pay operatives of the Iran-backed militant group and help buy arms, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with army regulations.
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The registered nonprofit, sanctioned by both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, provides financial services and is also used by ordinary Lebanese. Its name in Arabic means "the benevolent loan," and Hezbollah has used it to entrench its support among the Shiite population in a country where state and financial institutions have failed in recent years.
A year of escalating tensions and frequent cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the war in Gaza turned into all-out war last month, and Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon early this month.
Israel's announcement came a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called civilian casualties in Lebanon "far too high" in the Israel-Hezbollah war, and urged Israel to scale back some strikes, especially in and around Beirut.
Iran supports the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, and the United States is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents indicating that Israel was moving military assets into place for a military strike in response to Iran's ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1, according to three U.S. officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Israel has increased strikes on southern neighborhoods of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh, a crowded residential area where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It is also home to many civilians unaffiliated with the militant group.
In southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army said three soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicle. There was no immediate comment on that from the Israeli military, which said it struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in the past day and continued ground operations there.
Lebanon's army has largely kept to the sidelines in the war. The military is a respected institution in Lebanon, but isn't powerful enough to impose its will on Hezbollah or defend the country from an Israeli invasion.
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