Intro In a June 13, 2021 article, Fahim Al-Hamed, deputy editor of the Saudi state daily 'Okaz, described the steps taken by Hizbullah to make up for the current decline in its funding. This decline stems from the financial collapse of Iran – the chief source of funding for this organization and other terrorist groups – due to the strict sanctions imposed on this country. According to Al-Hamed, Hizbullah has responded to the crisis by turning to its network of drug dealers, businessmen and bankers, who, deceiving the global oversight systems, transfer drug money from South America through Europe to Lebanon and Syria; moreover, the organization also manufactures and sells drugs in Lebanon and Syria themselves.
Stating that the entire world is knows exactly what Hizbullah is – a murderous terrorist organization which also engages in drug trafficking and money laundering, and which holds Lebanon hostage – Al-Hamed asks why the superpowers remain silent over the crimes of this organization.
It should be noted that, in April 2021, Saudi customs authorities at the port of Jeddah announced that they had intercepted a large shipment of drugs hidden inside pomegranates arriving from Lebanon. Many political elements in Lebanon, and in the Lebanese and Saudi press, held Hizbullah responsible for the smuggling attempt.[1] Since then the Saudi authorities have intercepted many other drug shipments, hidden inside oranges, medical equipment, and more.[2]
Cartoon in Saudi daily: "Hizbullah's drugs" inside a truck of "Lebanese produce" (Source: Al-Madina, Saudi Arabia, July 6, 2021)
The following are excerpts from Al-Hamed's article.[3]
"After its funding sources dried up, and the economy of Iran – the chief financier of the militias and agents of terror in the region – collapsed, Hizbullah started looking for other, unusual sources of funding to deal with the extreme financial crisis it was suffering, and therefore turned to [its activities of] drug trafficking, money laundering and the amassing of explosives in South America and Africa. But the question that arises in the face of this farce and this terrorist militia is the following. If everyone knows that [Hizbullah] is an organization that relies on violence, killing, bloodshed and terror, and if the entire world is convinced that it controls Lebanon, which has become a hostage of the organization's mini-state – why do the powers remain so silent in the face of its terrorist crimes? And why the eager attempts to pamper the Ayatollah regime [in Iran] and remove the sanctions from it, given that it is the chief source of funding for Hizbullah?
"The actions of the militias loyal to the Qom regime [i.e., Iran] are diverse, and include drug trafficking, money laundering and the cultivating of terror and sectarian projects... As the Iranian aid receded, the militias turned to ensuring their sources of funding by smuggling and trading in drugs throughout the world. Hizbullah businessmen turned to the illegal gem trade, as well as to money laundering and drug trafficking… According to observers, the organization, deceiving the SWIFT and IBAN financial systems , transfers funds from South America, where its businessmen are active, to certain European countries that are lax in their oversight of funding sources, and eventually to Lebanese banks owned by businessmen loyal to the organization. This activity relies on [Shi'ite] businessmen in various countries who believe in [the ideology Iran's] Rule of the Jurisprudent. The Columbian drug cartel and the Nigeria-Niger-Chad triangle have become the nexus of this activity, being an essential route through which the organization transfers its profits to banks in Europe and from there to Lebanon, for the Captagon[4] factories are located in Lebanon and Syria and that is where the drug trade takes place.
"The [British] Independent daily in Persian published an article on senior figures in Hizbullah and other Iran[-backed] militias who are involved in drug manufacture and trafficking in Syria. The network they formed, which manufactures drugs, launders the proceeds and uses them to purchase arms for the terrorist Hizbullah, started to emerge in the 1990s, when Imad Mughniyeh, head of the External Security Organization,[5] which is responsible for laundering drug money, worked to establish this route, in coordination with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC], as a primary funding source, in addition to the funds provided to Hizbullah by the Ayatollah regime. The Iranian regime, which is under the sword of sanctions, has no choice but to rely on aid from Hizbullah, which grows drugs, smuggles them to neighboring countries, launders the drug money and transfers it to the IRGC, thus strengthening the terror culture which is rooted in drugs and money laundering."
[1] See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1573 - Saudi And Lebanese Accusations: Hizbullah Is Operating A Network For Smuggling Drugs To Saudi Arabia And The Region; It Has Turned Lebanon Into A Base For Exporting Drugs And Terrorism – April 28, 2021.
[2] Elnashra.com, June 15, 2021; Al-Jumhouriya (Lebanon), June 18, 2021, June 29, 2021; Al-Nahar (Lebanon), June 26, 2021; Alarabiya.net, June 30, 2021.
[3] 'Okaz (Saudi Arabia), June 13, 2021.
[4] Captagon is a brand name for the amphetamine drug fenethylline hydrochloride.
[5] Hizbullah's External Security Organization is responsible for planning, coordinating and carrying out terror attacks outside Lebanon, primarily against Israeli and American targets, and operates cells worldwide. In October 2017 the U.S. offered a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to the capture of its current head, Talal Hamiyah.