Hezbollah’s Challenges to Keep its Iranian Supply Routes Open

Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral in recent days marked the end of an era in Lebanon, as following the recent war with Israel, Hezbollah finds itself in an unprecedented situation. Its leadership is seen as weak and inexperienced, it has suffered significant military losses, and it is in a deep financial crisis. Most important is the fact the organization is cut off from its main logistical arena in Syria due to the fall of the Assad regime. 

Any chance of Hezbollah recovering from its current low point will depend on its ability to receive massive assistance from its patrons in Tehran, as unchecked Iranian smuggling of money, arms, and operatives is the group’s lifeline. A major obstacle to that resupply is the declared policies of the new president and government to regain Lebanon’s sovereignty, enforce the state’s control over the use of weapons, and reestablish its authority over the border crossings into Lebanese soil. This threatens one of Hezbollah’s core interests: assuring the existence of independent and unsupervised Iranian supply routes into Lebanon. 

The images that came out from Beirut recently, showing Hezbollah’s followers rioting in the streets and clashing with the local security forces, reflected Hezbollah’s willingness to undermine the state authority and challenge the new government’s policies. 

The riots erupted as part of Hezbollah’s effort to overturn the Lebanese government’s decision to prevent an Iranian airplane from landing at Beirut airport. The decision, reflecting Lebanon’s obligation under the recently signed ceasefire agreement to prevent the resupply of Hezbollah, was the result of intelligence delivered to Lebanon from Israel through the United States. The information indicated that a specific flight would be used to smuggle millions of dollars to Hezbollah and reportedly carried a warning with it: inaction by Beirut will force Israel to strike Lebanon’s only international airport. 

Hundreds of Hezbollah’s followers referred to the government’s decision as “surrendering to foreign directives.” Riots quickly escalated as roadblocks around the airport were established by Hezbollah’s men, in a show of force unseen in Lebanon for years. One of the victims of the rioting mob was the UNIFIL deputy chief, who happened to drive by the area and was beaten by the crowd while his car was set on fire.   

So far, the Lebanese officials have rejected Hezbollah’s demands to allow the resumption of Iranian flights and the security forces reacted with unusual firmness, confronting the rioters and arresting 25 of them. The events reflect a first-of-its-kind test to the new government’s willingness to enforce the ceasefire agreement even at the price of openly confronting Hezbollah. The backing the government’s actions received from the United States and Saudi Arabia holds critical importance, given the obvious conflict of interest between Hezbollah and the government’s declared commitment to reinstate Lebanon’s sovereignty and to fulfil its obligations under the ceasefire agreement. 

The reports that Iran used the massive arrival of Shiites to participate in Nasrallah's funeral to smuggle millions of dollars through the airport, exploiting the inability of the security forces to check the influx, are just another reminder that the struggle over this critical entry point to Lebanon is far from over. However, Lebanese authorities are showcasing their willingness to crack down on these supply routes. Reports on Friday suggested that Beirut Airport authorities seized $2.5 million in cash bound for Hezbollah that was concealed by a man traveling from Turkey.   

Hezbollah’s violent confrontation with the Lebanese security forces over its aerial supply route through Beirut airport was the second example of the terror organization’s willingness to use force to protect its supply lines from Iran. The events in Beirut came only a week after Hezbollah’s operatives fought with Syrian security forces along the Lebanese-Syrian land border. 

As in the case of Beirut airport, the unregulated border crossings into Syria are critical elements in Hezbollah’s ability to receive Iranian support. Over the years, Hezbollah has established an elaborate smuggling architecture in the area, connecting the organization’s strongholds in the Lebanese Beqaa valley to Syrian soil, which was used as a massive logistics platform by Hezbollah and Iran. 

The large-scale smuggling operations were done with the full cooperation of the Assad regime and met with no response from the Lebanese security forces. The political changes in Damascus put an end to that arrangement. 

Over the past few weeks, Syrian security forces initiated a campaign to regain control over the border and to prevent what they described as a “Hezbollah threat to the Syrian border.”   

The fighting between Hezbollah and its smugglers against the Syrian forces lasted for a few days and caused deaths on both sides. The Lebanese army, which for years was absent from the area, sent reinforcements to the border to calm down the clashes. After a few days of fighting and several casualties on both sides of the border, the Syrian security forces were able to complete their mission of blocking the smuggling routes in the area, while exposing infrastructures which have operated under Hezbollah oversight, such as drug production laboratories and money counterfeiting workshops. 

Hezbollah’s willingness to violently confront the Lebanese and Syrian security forces threatening its illegal supply lines coming from Tehran, as demonstrated in the dynamic along the border between Lebanon and Syria and around the Beirut International Airport, is a reminder of how critical those smuggling routes to Hezbollah’s existence.   

The political changes in both Syria and Lebanon pose Hezbollah and its patrons in Tehran with an unprecedented challenge, as for the first time in its history both the governments in Beirut and Damascus have openly declared their commitment to prevent Iranian smuggling on which Hezbollah has been so dependent. 

Under those circumstances, it is expected that Hezbollah and Tehran will use all the means at their disposal to try to restore the severed smuggling routes, including destabilizing the government in Lebanon if all attempts to convince the authorities to turn a blind eye fail. The international community must back President Aoun and Prime Minister Salam politically, operationally, and with intelligence assistance to thwart Hezbollah. The new government in Lebanon needs all the support it can get in its efforts to enforce the ceasefire agreement, restore Lebanon’s sovereignty, and prevent Tehran’s efforts to rebuild Hezbollah to its previous position as the behind-the-scenes ruler of Lebanon and an Iranian forward military base on Israel’s northern border. 

Dror Doron is a senior advisor at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) focusing on Hezbollah and Lebanon.  He spent nearly two decades as a senior analyst in the Office of Israel's Prime Minister. Dror is on Twitter @DrorDoron.