From the Liveblog of
Friday, January 31, 2025
Report: Israel told Lebanon truce committee Iran is smuggling cash to Hezbollah via Beirut airport
Israel has complained to the US-led committee overseeing the Lebanon ceasefire that Iran is sending suitcases stuffed with US dollars to Hezbollah via Beirut’s international airport, according to an American defense official cited by the Wall Street Journal.
The official is quoted as saying that Israel also claims Turkish citizens are being used to smuggle cash from Istanbul to Beirut.
According to the WSJ report, Israel’s complaints have been passed on to the Lebanese government.
A Lebanese security official quoted by WSJ says the Beirut airport is under tight military control to prevent Hezbollah smuggling attempts.
Though smuggling large amounts of cash through the airport would be difficult, valuable items like gemstones and diamonds could pass undetected, the Lebanese official says.
The November 27 ceasefire deal ended two months of full-scale war that followed months of lower-intensity cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah.
During the campaign, Israel eliminated most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership. It also targeted the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial institution, which has over 30 outlets across Lebanon, which both Jerusalem and Washington say is used by Hezbollah for money laundering and terrorism financing, assertions the group denies.
The Iran-backed terror group began near-daily attacks on northern Israel one day after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by its Palestinian ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Israeli residents of the north were displaced by the attacks, with rocket fire eventually spreading to the center of the country.
