Hezbollah is stepping up a campaign to place its allies at the heart of Lebanon’s banking system as the US seeks to disrupt the armed group’s financial networks, four senior Arab financiers said on Thursday.

Humat al Aqsa (HAA), a Gaza-based group that has long been suspected of being founded, directed and funded by senior Hamas political leader Fathi Hamad, recently promoted joint military operations with militant groups in the Gaza Strip on its social networking platforms.

Turkish security services thwarted the infiltration of five “terrorists” from Syria to the Mardin border state in southeastern Turkey.