The Israeli military has carried out a wave of airstrikes targeting branches of a financial institution affiliated with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, saying the quasi-banking system is being used to fund the militant group’s military wing.

Al-Qard al-Hassan is a Hezbollah unit that's used to pay operatives and help buy arms, a senior Israeli intelligence official said.

Hasan, which functions as Hezbollah’s de facto banking arm but also operates as an alternative bank for Lebanese, were targeted around Beirut and across the country’s south and east.