An Israeli airstrike on a health center in southern Lebanon killed 12 medical workers on March 13 in Burj Qalaouiyah, according to the Associated Press, after the strike also left one person seriously wounded and four others missing under rubble for hours. The AP described the attack as among the deadliest in Lebanon since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began March 2, and it said the center targeted was run by Hezbollah’s health arm, the Islamic Health Society.
The AP reported that Israel’s campaign since the war began has included strikes not only on Hezbollah’s military assets but also on institutions Israel describes as civilian, in an effort to weaken the Iran-backed group and discourage support for it. Hezbollah, as both a political party and armed movement, has built social and health services through its affiliated organizations, and the AP said those networks have been part of the pressure Israel is applying.
Alongside the health-center strike, the AP reported that Israel has destroyed more than a dozen branches of Hezbollah’s financial arm, al-Qard al-Hasan, and has carried out other attacks that heavily damaged Hezbollah’s media infrastructure, including Al-Manar TV headquarters and Al-Nour radio stations. The AP also said the strikes targeted Amana gas stations and “Sajjad” discount shops that offer highly subsidized products to low-income people.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of using health facilities for military purposes and has said that al-Qard al-Hasan finances Hezbollah’s military activities, while Lebanon’s Health Ministry denies Israel’s claim that Hezbollah uses health facilities for military purposes. In response to the strategy of targeting healthcare workers and institutions, Amnesty International’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Heba Morayef, said the Israeli military appears to treat labeling as Hezbollah-affiliated as enough to make sites targetable, and that the approach is wrong.
“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,” Morayef said, according to the AP. Morayef said Amnesty has stated that the al-Qard al-Hasan branches are not legitimate military targets under international humanitarian law, and the AP reported that Amnesty called for the strikes to be investigated as war crimes.
Hezbollah’s leadership and commanders have said they intend to continue fighting. In a televised speech over the weekend, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem called it an “existential battle” and vowed his group would fight to the end and never surrender, the AP reported. The AP also quoted Israel’s army chief, Gen. Eyal Zamir, saying during a visit to the northern front on Monday that Hezbollah is fighting “a war for its very existence and is paying a heavy price” for entering the battle.
The AP said Israel justified its actions by pointing to Lebanon’s failure to disarm Hezbollah under plans of the Lebanese government and by citing detentions of some group members for carrying weapons without a license. It added that Lebanon’s political and security context has shifted from earlier conflicts, including a 34-day war in 2006 that ended in a draw and a 14-month conflict that began in October 2023 after Hezbollah fired rockets in support of Palestinians following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
In the days following strikes on Hezbollah-linked institutions, the AP reported backlash in Lebanon, including residents protesting after airstrikes hit Hezbollah institutions in central Beirut and forcing the group to close an al-Qard al-Hasan branch in the capital. The AP reported that workers removed the financial institution’s sign and dismantled ATMs, ending its central Beirut presence.
The AP further reported that Hezbollah and Iranian officials have said any halt in U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran should also include a stop to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told Al Jazeera English that Tehran does not believe in a ceasefire and said ending the war means ending it on all fronts, including Lebanon and several other countries in the region.