{"title":"Lessons from the Syria-Hezbollah Criminal Syndicate, 1985–2005","authors":"Iftah Burman, Yehuda Blanga","doi":"10.1111/mepo.12812","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Hezbollah, founded with the intention of destroying Israel, has long engaged in illicit efforts to amass resources the size of some states’ coffers. The Lebanese group's long-running global criminal syndicate with the Assad regime, initially forged in the 1980s, more recently allowed it to fight for more than a decade in the Syrian conflict and to launch attacks on Israel for more than a year during the Gaza war. This article traces the roots of Hezbollah's illicit financial operations, focusing on its collaboration with high-ranking Syrian officers and officials during their country's intervention in Lebanon. It leverages declassified IDF and CIA intelligence reports, Israeli and US government documents, and media reports in Arabic and Hebrew to reveal how the Hezbollah-Syrian partnership engaged in global drug trafficking, currency counterfeiting, and money laundering, then repatriated the earnings. The analysis then suggests how countermeasures used in the past could be repurposed to combat Hezbollah's financing for terrorism and military buildup, and it proposes some new methods, as well.</p>","PeriodicalId":46060,"journal":{"name":"Middle East Policy","volume":"32 2","pages":"98-119"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/mepo.12812","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Middle East Policy","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mepo.12812","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"AREA STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Hezbollah, founded with the intention of destroying Israel, has long engaged in illicit efforts to amass resources the size of some states’ coffers. The Lebanese group's long-running global criminal syndicate with the Assad regime, initially forged in the 1980s, more recently allowed it to fight for more than a decade in the Syrian conflict and to launch attacks on Israel for more than a year during the Gaza war. This article traces the roots of Hezbollah's illicit financial operations, focusing on its collaboration with high-ranking Syrian officers and officials during their country's intervention in Lebanon. It leverages declassified IDF and CIA intelligence reports, Israeli and US government documents, and media reports in Arabic and Hebrew to reveal how the Hezbollah-Syrian partnership engaged in global drug trafficking, currency counterfeiting, and money laundering, then repatriated the earnings. The analysis then suggests how countermeasures used in the past could be repurposed to combat Hezbollah's financing for terrorism and military buildup, and it proposes some new methods, as well.
期刊介绍:
The most frequently cited journal on the Middle East region in the field of international affairs, Middle East Policy has been engaging thoughtful minds for more than 25 years. Since its inception in 1982, the journal has been recognized as a valuable addition to the Washington-based policy discussion. Middle East Policy provides an influential forum for a wide range of views on U.S. interests in the region and the value of the policies that are supposed to promote them.