According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), Israel's attacks on the Al-Kard al-Hassan association in Lebanon are war crimes. “The fact that an armed group uses a financial institution, association or bank does not constitute an effective contribution to military action,” HRW said. “Therefore, it is not a legitimate military target under the laws of war.”
Israel, the USA and the now killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah have explained that Al-Kard al-Hassan has connections to the militia. “But it remains a civilian object,” HRW said. “Allowing such attacks would effectively turn all financial institutions used by all parties in the conflict into military targets at any time.”
According to its own statements, Israel's army bombed almost 30 branches of the association, a kind of bank of Hezbollah, in Lebanon. This is one of the largest associations for granting microcredits in the country, which has been in the worst financial crisis in its history for years. The sector of Lebanese banks, which have accumulated billions of dollars in debt, has collapsed.
