Hezbollah Left Without Payments: How Iran Lost Supply Channels

A New York Times investigation reveals how coordinated pressure from the US, Israel, and Lebanon has pushed Hezbollah to the brink of financial collapse. For the first time in a long while, payments to supporters have been frozen. Strikes on financial hubs, the fall of the Assad regime, and Beirut's control over air traffic have cut the group off from Iranian money. Lebanon's new central bank chief dismissed employees suspected of ties to Hezbollah and imposed cash restrictions.

Coordinated pressure from the US, Israel, and Lebanese authorities has pushed Hezbollah to the brink of complete economic collapse, according to a New York Times investigation. For the first time in a long while, the organization finds itself in a situation where payments to its supporters and members are completely frozen. The financial exhaustion results from a combination of measures: the Israel Defense Forces are precisely destroying the group's key financial hubs, including branches of the microfinance organization Al-Qard al-Hasan, exchange offices, and underground cash storage sites. The fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria has severed the logistical arteries through which Iran supplied contraband and money overland. Official Beirut has taken control of capital's air traffic: flights from Tehran have been canceled, and Hezbollah operatives have been denied access to the international airport. Under US pressure, Lebanon's new central bank governor, Harid Saud, dismissed senior employees suspected of ties to the group and imposed restrictions on cash circulation. Together, these actions have deprived Hezbollah of access to Iranian resources and internal sources of income, driving the organization into an unprecedented economic dead end.