IDF: Hezbollah hides $500m and gold in a bunker under Beirut Hospital

Israel expanded its campaign against Hezbollah on Sunday evening, launching a series of attacks to weaken Iran-backed terrorist group's ability to finance its operations, Telegraphy broadcasts.

The Israeli Air Force carried out a series of specific attacks on Hezbollah financial centre”, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

One of our main targets last night was an underground vault with tens of millions of dollars in cash and gold. The money was being used to finance Hezbollah's attacks on Israel”, he said, without specifying whether all the money was destroyed in the attack.

Hagari later referred to a separate bunker also filled with money and gold under a hospital in Beirut, but said the safe was not yet targeted by the IDF.

There are at least half a billion dollars in bank notes and gold stored in this bunker, according to our estimates. This money can still be used to rebuild the state of Lebanon”, Hagari said.

During the conference, Hagari introduced a map showing the bunker's location, under Al-Sahel Hospital in the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah is largely based.

He called on Lebanese authorities and international organisations to prevent Hezbollah from using “money for terror and to attack Israel”, and warned that Israeli air forces are monitoring the complex.