Hezbollah’s Money Troubles

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Hezbollah is now facing serious money troubles, due to Israel’s military actions in Lebanon, which have targeted the banks they use, as well as other funding sources. More on Hezbollah’s sudden money worries are discussed here: “Hezbollah runs out of money following repeated Israeli strikes – report,” Jerusalem Post, October 13, 2024:

…According to the Friday VOA report, the findings of the Lebanese terror group’s financial struggles came after speaking to US and Lebanon-based researchers, along with alleged US Treasury Department reports.

The findings reportedly identified Hezbollah’s main source of income as coming from the Lebanese banking institution Al-Qard al-Hasan (AQAH).

According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, AQAH had “grown into a major institution with branches in Hezbollah’s southern Beirut stronghold of Dahiyeh and other Hezbollah-dominated parts of Lebanon,” the report said.

The researchers also said that Hezbollah had other financial sources through Lebanon’s licensed commercial banks and from arrivals of “cash-bearing” planes at Beirut’s airport, according to the report.

VOA’s report of Hezbollah’s lack of funding has come after Israel has reportedly escalated its attacks on the terror group’s assets, including airstrikes on AQAH’s branches, causing significant damage.

AQAH has operated as a key financial institution since its founding in 1982 and has grown into a major source of funding for Hezbollah’s operations, according to the report.

‘A very serious financial problem’

“Hezbollah is facing a very serious financial problem. They are unable to pay rank-and-file members who have fled their homes and need to feed their families,” said Hilal Khashan, a Lebanese political science professor.

Furthermore, Lebanese finances have also been strained due to a loss of access to its banking system. According to the report, many of Lebanon’s wealthiest bankers, who may have facilitated Hezbollah’s money laundering activities, have fled the country, fearing Israeli reprisals….

Those fleeing bankers have helped Hezbollah launder money in the past. But now they are afraid that the IDF might seize them, perhaps appropriating their cash and other property, as retribution for their collaborating with the terror group. And so they have fled abroad, to Europe or to the Sunni states of the Gulf.

The bankers, who see that Hezbollah is being devastated by the IDF, are no longer willing to let the terror group take millions in cash out of their banks. There is now little likelihood, they calculate, that Hezbollah will ever pay back whatever it borrows. So they are not going to lend it any money. And the bankers don’t want to let Hezbollah withdraw its own money , money that it previously deposited, either, fearing that if they do so they might be subject to Israel’s retribution. And if they were to allow such withdrawals, that might lead to a run on the banks.

The Lebanese bankers are fleeing abroad because they fear being taken prisoner by the IDF and charged with having been collaborators with Hezbollah.

Additionally, the report noted that flights carrying cash from Iran to Hezbollah had been interrupted by Israel’s intensified air patrols over Beirut’s airport. Israel warned it will target flights suspected of carrying money or weapons….

The cash Iran would like to send to Hezbollah is not now being sent because Tehran knows there is a likelihood that the IDF will target its planes, incinerating that money before it can ever reach Hezbollah. The IDF has warned that it will not interdict weapons alone, but will also target planes carrying caches of money for the terror group.

Iranian flights landing in Beirut that contain cash for Hezbollah are not just trying to evade the Israelis, who may shoot down those Iranian planes suspected of carrying cash for delivery to Hezbollah, but also trying to evade the newly-emboldened Lebanese government authorities, who have begun to inspect planes arriving from Iran not just for weapons, but also for cash — and impounding what they find.

“Keeping up the fight depends more on the availability of food and ammunition. When your fight is motivated by religious zeal, you have more fundamental issues to worry about than the availability of cash,” said Kashan [sic] in the report.

Brave words, but how well will Hezbollah fighters perform if they are unable to feed or clothe or provide shelter for their families because the terror group is unable to pay their salaries? Despite their determination to carry on their fight, they are also responsible for supporting their families, and at some point the continued ack of money will demoralize them and diminish their will to fight.

Hezbollah never expected that the Israelis would launch airstrikes against the banks the terror banks use, both for depositing and for borrowing money. But many branches of its main bank, Al-Qard Al-Hasan, have been leveled by the IDF. And the Iranians have stopped sending cash to Hezbollah by plane, for Israel’s aggressive tactics have made them afraid of those planes being shot down in the air or on the tarmac in Beirut. How will Hezbollah fighters buy food, clothes, medicines for their families if they themselves are not being paid? Those fighters, no matter how fanatical their faith, are certain to be distracted and demoralized by their inability to support their wives and children.