Vehicles transporting people fled southern Lebanon were busy on the exit road in Khaldeh area on November 28, 2024 due to the exit road in Beirut, the day after the fire was stopped between Israel and Hezbollah.
Ibrahim Amro | AFP | Getty Images
Until a few months ago, the drive through the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital from Beirut International Airport was once pro-Iranian and Hezbollah-themed propaganda.
Hassan Nasrallah, the charismatic former leader of the Iranian support group who died in Beirut last year, stares at you from billboards and drives along Imam Khomeini Road, named after the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Images of Hezbollah leaders are scattered with dramatic murals by the fallen Iranian spy commander Qasem Soleimani.
Now, many of these images have been replaced by Western and local brands. In June, dozens of billboards on the highway were replaced by Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton advertising shaving products.
Many new posters also feature patriotism, with unified messages replacing the former sectarian symbol, a attempt by Lebanon’s new prime minister, Nawaf Salam, to encourage a “new era of Lebanon”, just in time for the summer tourism booming Mediterranean countries hoping to go after months of war.
In this “new” Lebanon, Hezbollah is forced to operate in the shadows – more than ever in the organization’s 40-year history.
Iranian agents, who control several areas of Lebanon as a sub-state group and are designated by Washington as a terrorist organization, have been looking for creative ways to evade U.S. sanctions. However, Hezbollah’s leadership and financial infrastructure have been destroyed due to the active attacks from Israel, the deadliest attack since the 2006 war.
“Hezbollah has been in the greatest dilemma since its foundation. Israel’s war against Lebanon greatly attacked the party and its infrastructure, assassinating the party’s senior military and political leaders, including Secretary-General Hassan Naslara, “Jesse Dah,” author of Hezbollah: Political Economy of the Lebanese Party, Political Economy of the Lebanese Party.
“Residing primarily in Shiite populations has been a big target, which has also undermined civilian housing and infrastructure,” he said.
A vehicle carries the coffin of former Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike last year, at a public funeral ceremony at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, outside the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, Lebanon, February 23, 2025.
Thaier al-Sudani | Reuters
The group’s political wing also has a place in parliament, and he still has important political power in Lebanon, Finally, parliamentary elections were held In 2022. Despite losing the most important seat in the organization’s political history, it still clung to a 62-seat coalition in the 128-member parliament.
While Hezbollah “will not disappear because it has a strong, disciplined, organized political and radical structure and benefits from Iran’s continued aid, the “organization” has become increasingly isolated politically and socially outside of Lebanon’s Shiite population.”
Outside the banking system
Although Hezbollah has received most of its funds from Iran, it has also developed an extensive international financial network to attract revenue. The group makes money from traditional industries such as banking and construction, but it also runs smuggling, money laundering and international drug trafficking operations in the Middle East and across distances from Bulgaria and Argentina. Its revenue is estimated to be billions of dollars a year.
Archived Photo: Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed supporters during a rare public appearance at the Ashoura ceremony in the southern suburb of Beirut on November 3, 2014.
Hasan Shaban | Reuters
Hezbollah’s parallel governance strategy is both a political party and a sub-national organization, allowing it to survive and grow into an armed group for decades.
When Lebanese depositors are locked in 2019 after savings Financial crash Hezbollah has weakened the country and its currency and is still able to fund its bases and illegal activities. It operates cash-only businesses and operates black market dollar exchanges.
This strategy Regional analysts say that despite their financial pressure, they will continue,,,,, Due to the extreme difficulty of tracking informal, cash-only transactions.
Lebanon’s economy is over 60% of cash exchanges, and the state cannot track circulation. “As a result of part of this cash circulation, Hezbollah smuggled to Lebanon, it provides funds for its activities, pays employees and helps its popular bases, as well as other sources of funding, including LICIT and illegal. ”
But the United States, under President Donald Trump’s U.S. leadership is putting renewed pressure on the new Lebanese administration to combat Hezbollah’s illegal activities.
New government suppression
The central bank in Lebanon (Banque du Liban) (Banque du Liban (BDL)) has clearly hit Hezbollah’s funding action, which issued a directive that prohibits all financial institutions in the country from conducting any transactions with Al-Qard al-Qard Al-Hasan, a linked financial entity, to provide local loans by placing gold medals and jewelry as core loans. It was Hezbollah’s tool to consolidate the country’s Shia population and gain more money for its operations. Last year, Israel specifically targeted the Al-Qard al-Hasan facility.
Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute and a senior fellow in the Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Program, said the BDL’s move was “smart” because Al-Qard al-Hasan has long been registered as a charity and is therefore able to operate outside the Lebanese financial system, evading supervision from regulators.
“Here, BDL seems to have found a way to increase the gap and say, ‘Whatever you are, people can’t serve you.
Israel’s goal in Hezbollah in Lebanon, black smoke rose to the neighborhood near Dahhi, which is widely believed to be the last of a series of strikes against Hashem Safieddine, possibly the assassinated former Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah, the well-known Airport 304 announced by the Israelis, announced in the northern region, which is the Hazbollah Leader who, the International Airport 30, and in the northern region, it is the 404. Lebanon.
Scott Peterson | Getty Images
Until recently, Hezbollah controlled almost all ports of entry in Lebanon, including Beirut Airport. After Israel’s attack on the group, its airport is now under the control of the Lebanese government, which fired contacts Hezbollah, detained smugglers and implemented new surveillance technologies.
Although Tehran is still funding its agency group, its routes to Lebanon were restricted after Bashar al Assad lost key allies in the decline of Syria’s Bashar al Assad regime. Experts told CNBC that numerous inspections are underway for flights from Iran and other locations designed to provide significant support to Hezbollah.
“Cash transfers were intercepted from abroad and from the border. We are talking about millions of dollars,” Dah said of the country’s new security.
“The Window of Opportunity Now”
Many people who want to see Hezbollah’s power demolishment say it’s time.
Levitt served as Deputy Assistant Secretary and Analyst at the US Treasury Commission (US IS CEREASURY DEMECPET) and you had an interesting opportunity.
He added that for decades, the Lebanese prime minister and president have been interested in the monopoly of using force in the country.
“They are interested in ensuring that Lebanon needs the much-needed international assistance needed to get rid of the economic crisis, and they are interested in not turning it off against the Trump administration.”
But it’s not easy. The organization has long been described as the most powerful non-state organization in the Middle East, but there are still thousands of people relying on it for social service and ideological leadership – and it is still well equipped.
It is worth noting that no one formally demands that Hezbollah be dissolved or no longer exists at all. Trump’s opinion on Trump’s envoy who recently asked Hezbollah to put down his arms, the group’s proposal Rejected.
“Hezbollah is not disarming because you ask them very well,” Levitt said. “But we have to make the Lebanese government able to do that, so they can do it and back off when they do it.”
Former U.S. official said it requires a combination of carrots and sticks—ironically, in many cases, these tools have weakened by the resources of the U.S. government under the Trump administration.
Alexander Zerden, president of Capitol Peak Strategy, a Washington-based risk consulting firm, has previously served in the Treasury Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, outlining some of these potential approaches.
“On the offensive side, the United States can and will likely continue to target Hezbollah financial networks inside and outside Lebanon,” Zerden said.
“In terms of incentives, the reduction in diplomatic and development capabilities of direct tools is even more limited.” This is the filth of the US Agency for International Development, a powerful diplomatic tool. “However, the United States seems to have room to support economic reforms,” he added.
For Lebanese political analyst, Ronnie Chatah, host of Beirut Banyan podcast,,,,, What is really needed is international pressure that will prompt Iran to abandon its participation in Lebanon.
“There is an international aspect to Lebanon’s support yet, which means finding a way to get Iran to give up on Lebanon, and I think only strategic diplomacy can happen,” Kacha said.
“If the Trump administration wants to repeatedly say peace like Donald Trump, and if Donald Trump also wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize, then Lebanon must have some directions to move forward that can focus and find peace resolutions that satisfy Iran’s terms in some ways,” he told Beirut’s CNBC.
Chatah warned that so far the U.S. and Lebanese governments have done this, but ultimately will not break Hezbollah’s power in the country.
“The window of opportunity now is. It’s not tomorrow, unfortunately, it’s a closed window.” “Intent is not enough. Whether it’s by the Trump administration or the Lebanese president is coming by the Trump administration, it’s not enough.”
