The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed Monday that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror organization has hidden $500 million in cash and gold in a bunker underneath the Al-Sahel Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon.
“Iran sends suitcases of cash and gold to the Iranian embassy in Beirut, and then directly it goes to Hezbollah,” said IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, detailing Hezbollah’s other economic resources in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Turkey.
Hagari also said that Iran sent Hezbollah money earned by selling Iranian oil in Syria. (A recent U.S. government report indicated that after being choked by sanctions under President Donald Trump, Iran’s oil industry had rebounded under the Biden-Harris administration’s lenient policies, and earned nearly $200 billion over the past four years.)
Hagari described “Hassan Nasrallah’s bunker,” saying that it was located “directly under Al-Sahel Hospital, in the heart of Beirut, in the Dahiyeh [neighborhood].” The bunker contained accommodations and a command center, as well as a vault with “hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold.”
The revelations came after Israel bombed financial institutions linked to Hezbollah overnight Sunday into Monday.
“Our strikes will degrade Hezbollah’s ability to finance its attacks on Israelis,” Hagari said.
The hospital was reportedly evacuated shortly after Hagari revealed the existence of the bunker.
Hagari noted that the Israel Air Force (IAF) was monitoring the hospital. “However,” he said, “we will not strike the hospital itself.”
The IDF hit other targets linked to Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure Monday evening, following evacuation warnings.
Hagari explained that not only was Iranian money used to fund Hezbollah’s terror operations, but it also “threatens the Lebanese economy. As Hezbollah continues to smuggle Iranian money into Lebanon in dollars, it devalues the Lebanese pound, making the economic crisis in Lebanon even worse,” he said.
“We are not at war with the people of Lebanon. We are at war with Hezbollah,” Hagari concluded, reiterating that Israel’s goal was to ensure that Israel’s northern residents could return home safely after a year of Hezbollah attacks.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
