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Today, we’re going to be looking at violations of the laws of war.
We’ve had to do this far too often in recent months, when discussing hostilities in Israel and Gaza and in Lebanon. Regular Daily Brief readers will by now be all too familiar with at least one of the foundations of international humanitarian law – that all warring parties must distinguish between military targets, which are legitimate, and civilian targets, which are not.
Deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian structures are war crimes.
This brings us to Sunday’s attacks by Israel on al-Qard al-Hassan, the Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution in Lebanon. The Israeli military struck nearly 30 of its offices in southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and the Bekaa Valley, according to media reports.
Israeli officials have alleged the financial group is providing funding for Hezbollah, which is engaged in an armed conflict with Israel. They have not, however, claimed the group is directly involved in hostilities.
That’s a telling admission of an important difference.
A bank is a civilian object, not a military one. Therefore, it’s not a lawful military target under the laws of war.
Yes, the financial association al-Qard al-Hassan has links to Hezbollah and its supporters. It’s also been sanctioned by the US. But its financial services do not amount to an effective contribution to military action, and so as far as the laws of war are concerned, it is a civilian object.
Much of what the financial group does, by the way, would be called micro-lending. It reportedly has hundreds of thousands of clients who receive zero-interest loans, typically up to US$5,000. Clients come from predominately Shia-populated areas of Lebanon, where other options for such small loans are hard to come by, particularly in the country’s recent economic slump.
That such financial associations and banks be considered civilian objects under the laws of war makes a lot of sense. Just imagine if they weren’t – if any bank used by any military, any soldier, any rebel was considered a legitimate military target. Chaos and harm would spread exponentially, to the bank’s civilian employees, its civilian clients, and others.
The laws of war exist for a reason, and Israel’s attacks on the financial association al-Qard al-Hassan were war crimes.
