Hezbollah weakened but financially resilient a year after Israel war
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Hezbollah supporters mark the first anniversary of the killing of senior commander Ibrahim Aqil, who died in an Israeli air strike on Sept 20, 2024.
PHOTO: EPA
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BEIRUT – One year after a devastating war with Israel dealt massive blows to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Iran-backed movement is still managing to pay its fighters and fund its social services.
The killing of its long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah
As the group faces mounting pressure to disarm, the US has also sought to cripple its finances.
US envoy Tom Barrack said Hezbollah has been receiving “US$60 million (S$77 million) a month” since a November ceasefire.
AFP spoke to several Hezbollah members and beneficiaries of its services, all of whom said the organisation was meeting its financial commitments. They requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject.
Fighters still receive monthly cash salaries of US$500 to US$700, well above Lebanon’s minimum wage of US$312.
Families of Hezbollah “martyrs” continue to receive stipends covering rent and other essentials, while the group’s vast network of schools, hospitals and charities makes it “one of the largest employers in Lebanon”, according to researcher and Hezbollah expert Joseph Daher.
Hezbollah is “definitely under political and economic pressure”, Mr Daher said, though it is difficult to assess the depth of the impact.
Reconstruction and surveillance
A Hezbollah source said that, since the ceasefire
AFP could not independently verify the figures.
Unlike after the 2006 war, when Hezbollah spearheaded rebuilding in the south, current leader Qassem has insisted the state should fund post-war reconstruction, which has yet to begin.
Since the formation of a new Western-backed government in 2025, and Hezbollah’s slip in political dominance, Beirut has tightened scrutiny of the group’s financial dealings.
The December fall of long-time Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad also disrupted supply routes and cash flows from Iran.
The authorities have stepped up monitoring of money entering Lebanon, especially from Iran, and the central bank has banned all dealings with Al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-linked financial institution.
Israel bombed the firm’s branches during two months of all-out war in 2024 that devastated Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon’s south and east, and in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
A client of the firm, which offers credit in exchange for gold deposits and has been a lifeline to members of Hezbollah’s Shi’ite Muslim community, said “fear took over” about losing her gold collateral during the crackdown.
But she was able to recover it after repaying her loan.
A Hezbollah supporter holds pictures of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, (left) and late Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah.
PHOTO: EPA
Cash flow
Experts say Hezbollah relies on a web of companies and businessmen, as well as bundles of banknotes flowing in from abroad.
Lebanon suspended flights from Iran in February, cutting off one route.
A security source also reported tighter searches of passengers arriving from Iraq and other countries serving as conduits for Hezbollah.
The US accuses Hezbollah of raising funds through global businesses, drug trafficking and even “blood diamonds” from Africa.
Western and Gulf states also allege it profits from the Captagon drug trade – an accusation the group denies.
“The international community has realised that Hezbollah thrives in a weak, unstable, cash-based economy,” Mr Sami Zoughaib, a researcher at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think-tank, told AFP.
Cash has been king in Lebanon since the economic collapse began in 2019.
Mr Daher said the group still receives income via companies registered in Iraq and Lebanon, and affiliated businessmen operating elsewhere.
In a 2025 report, Canada said Hezbollah was thought to be using businesses, cryptocurrencies, bank transfers and charitable funds to receive “outgoing Canadian funds”.
According to Mr Daher, the ouster of the Assad regime in neighbouring Syria has been “the biggest blow” to the group’s finances so far.
Cash and weapons used to flow easily across the porous Lebanon-Syria border, while Hezbollah also made money from smuggling goods, he said.
Syria’s new Islamist authorities, distrustful of Iran and sharply opposed to Hezbollah, have cracked down on such activities. AFP
