Posted by
Jonathan on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 12:05:41 PM
Ynet News is reporting
that Israeli warplanes have attacked four el-mal (money house) buildings in Lebanon where Hezbollah stores its cash. The buildings are located in the Bint Jbeil,
Nabatiyeh, Baalbek and the Tyre areas. The
Israelis also took out the “Shahid Fund” financial office and other financial
operations in Beirut.
If true, this would be a
serious setback for Hezbollah. Like most
terrorist organizations, Hezbollah probably keeps large sums of money in cash
to avoid detection by the international financial system. This is especially true given the recent
revelations by the New York Times regarding the SWIFT system for tracking
terrorist financial transactions.
We’re not talking about
small change here. By some estimates, Iran is funding Hezbollah
to the tune of $20 million to $40 million per
month. This volume of money takes
time to physically move, so there’s a good chance that a lot of it went up in
smoke. Way to go, IDF!