Israeli Military Targets Hezbollah Civilian Services in Expanded Campaign

Israel has broadened its military strategy against Hezbollah, attacking the group's civilian infrastructure including health centers, financial institutions, and media outlets. A March 13 strike on a medical facility in southern Lebanon killed 12 healthcare workers, highlighting Israel's effort to weaken Hezbollah's civilian support network. The campaign represents what analysts call an existential battle aimed at eliminating Hezbollah from Lebanon's political landscape.

BEIRUT (AP) — Twelve healthcare workers died instantly when an Israeli airstrike hit a medical facility in southern Lebanon, with one person critically injured and four others trapped beneath debris for hours.

The March 13 attack on the village of Burj Qalaouiyah facility represents one of the most devastating single incidents since the current Israel-Hezbollah conflict erupted on March 2. The targeted medical center operated under Hezbollah’s healthcare division, the Islamic Health Society, which has now lost 24 staff members during the past two weeks of fighting.

Israeli forces have expanded their strategy beyond attacking Hezbollah’s military capabilities, now systematically targeting the organization’s civilian operations in what appears to be an effort to diminish the Iran-supported group’s influence and erode its popular support base.

The militant organization functions both as an armed faction and political entity, with its healthcare and community service programs serving as key pillars of its public backing throughout the years.

Beyond medical facilities, Israeli airstrikes have eliminated more than twelve locations belonging to Hezbollah’s banking operation, al-Qard al-Hasan. Additional bombardments have severely damaged the organization’s Al-Manar television headquarters and Al-Nour radio broadcasting centers.

The military campaign has also focused on the group’s Amana fuel stations and Sajjad discount retail outlets, where economically disadvantaged residents purchase heavily subsidized goods.

Wednesday’s Israeli airstrike on a residential building in central Beirut resulted in the deaths of Mohammed Sherri, who directed political programming for Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television network, and his spouse.

Israeli officials claim Hezbollah operates military functions within healthcare facilities and assert that al-Qard al-Hasan — formally registered as a charitable organization providing no-interest loans — funds the group’s armed operations. Lebanon’s Health Ministry rejects Israeli allegations regarding military use of Hezbollah medical facilities.

“This represents a distinct conflict that will not conclude through ceasefire agreements,” stated Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at American University of Beirut. “This conflict will persist until Israel accomplishes its complete goal — eliminating Hezbollah not merely as a military force, but ultimately removing Hezbollah entirely from Lebanon’s political arena.”

Hezbollah faces mounting domestic and international demands to surrender its weapons and recognizes this current confrontation as pivotal. Fierce fighting along Lebanon’s southern frontier between Hezbollah militants and advancing Israeli forces has resulted in numerous Lebanese fighter casualties.

During Monday’s visit to the northern battlefront, Israeli army commander Gen. Eyal Zamir declared that Hezbollah now engages in “a conflict for its survival and faces severe consequences for joining this confrontation.” He emphasized that Israeli military pressure will continue to “escalate further.”

“This constitutes an existential struggle. It is neither limited nor straightforward,” Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem declared during a weekend televised address. Kassem pledged his organization would continue fighting indefinitely and never capitulate.

Israeli authorities maintain that Lebanon has failed to disarm the organization according to the Lebanese government’s own commitments, therefore Israel will complete this objective independently.

Contrasting with earlier Israeli conflicts, the current situation occurs while the Lebanese government has declared Hezbollah’s military operations unlawful and officials have arrested multiple group members for unauthorized weapons possession.

Similar to past conflicts, Hezbollah faces domestic criticism from Lebanese opponents who hold the Iran-backed organization responsible for initiating this war through rocket attacks on Israel. Hezbollah launched these rockets in retaliation for the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, occurring less than 48 hours after U.S. and Israeli operations against Iran commenced, sparking regional warfare.

Israel responded with extensive aerial bombardment campaigns across Lebanese territories, resulting in over 1,000 fatalities and displacing more than one million residents from southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut’s southern neighborhoods.

“Hezbollah executed a self-destructive action that will not alter the situation,” commented legislator Samy Gemayel, who leads the nationalist Kataeb Party, adding that Tehran exploits Lebanon “as a launching pad to protect Iran.”

The previous 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006 concluded without a clear victor. A 14-month conflict beginning in October 2023 — when Hezbollah fired rockets supporting Palestinians following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on southern Israel — eliminated much of Hezbollah’s political and military leadership and significantly weakened but did not destroy the organization.

Following airstrikes against Hezbollah facilities even in central Beirut, local residents demonstrated and compelled the group to shut down an al-Qard al-Hasan branch in the capital’s center. Yielding to public pressure, employees removed the financial institution’s signage and dismantled automated teller machines, ending its presence in central Beirut.

Amnesty International has declared that al-Qard al-Hasan branches do not constitute legitimate military objectives under international humanitarian law and that these strikes warrant investigation as potential war crimes.

“The Israeli military appears to operate under the assumption that designating something as Hezbollah-connected, whether healthcare personnel, residences in border communities, or financial institutions, makes it a valid target. This approach is incorrect,” said Heba Morayef, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

Mahmoud Karaki from Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Society reported that during the most recent 2024 conflict, his organization lost 153 members in Israeli attacks. However, he promised the group would maintain its operations as it has during previous wars.

“By attacking us, they target the support system for civilians and their resilience in areas under assault,” Karaki stated.

The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson has alleged that Hezbollah uses ambulances for weapons and fighter transportation, accusations the paramedic organization firmly denies.

Hezbollah and Iranian representatives have indicated that any cessation of U.S.-Israeli operations against Iran must also include ending Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

Senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qamati informed Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed television Monday that “Iran will not abandon Lebanon or the resistance, nor will it permit Lebanon to remain defenseless,” adding that “Lebanon will participate in this victory and will not be abandoned.”

When asked whether Tehran could accept a ceasefire halting strikes on Iran while continuing in Lebanon, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded: “I doubt that.”

“We reject ceasefire concepts; we support ending the war completely. And concluding the war means precisely that — terminating warfare on all battlegrounds,” Araghchi told Al Jazeera English, adding this encompasses Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Iran and “additional regional nations.”