Israel strikes 300 Hezbollah targets, including underground cash vault

Israel said Monday it struck around 300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over 24 hours, ramping up its offensive to hit the group’s finances, as the United States called for the war to end “as soon as possible”.

The strikes on Hezbollah’s financial arm mark an expansion of the nearly month-long war in Lebanon, and came as Israel continued pounding Gaza more than a year into the war there.

Israel’s military said that an underground vault with tens of millions of dollars in cash and gold was among nearly 30 targets belonging to Hezbollah-linked financial firm Al-Qard al-Hassan hit since Sunday night.

The money in the vault was “being used to finance Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Another bunker, yet to be targeted, is estimated to hold “at least half a billion dollars in dollar bills and gold,” he added.

The military vowed to carry out further attacks on Monday evening, including in Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of capital Beirut which has been pummelled by strikes in recent weeks.