Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria (February 17 – March 2, 2023)

Overview

• Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech devoted mainly to internal Lebanese affairs and America’s intervention, and adding that in his estimation, in the wake of the current intifada, Israel would not reach its 80^th anniversary. Hezbollah began a propaganda campaign called “The spider’s house,” predicting a civil war in Israel.
• The American administration announced that one of Hezbollah’s most important financial figures had been detained in Romania. A route for smuggling gold from Venezuela to Iran was exposed; the sale of the gold funds Hezbollah’s activities.
• An attempt to smuggle a large quantity of drugs from Lebanon into Israel was prevented near the village of Aramsheh, a village split in half by the Israel-Lebanon border.
• The terrorist attack in Hawwara, south of Nablus, where two Israeli civilians were killed, was celebrated in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Representatives of the leaderships of Hamas and Fatah met in the Palestinian embassy in Beirut.
• Three South Lebanon Army soldiers were killed in a raid on drug dealers in the town of Hortaala, south of Ba’albek.
• Two Hezbollah-affiliated operatives were apprehended in an IDF operational activity in the southern Golan Heights.

Hezbollah and Lebanon

Speech by Hassan Nasrallah relates to the situation in Israel

• On February 16, 2023, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech dealing mainly with internal Lebanese affairs and the threat of American intervention. He accused the United States of responsibility for the chaos in Lebanon and threatened Hezbollah would attack it, even if it meant a possible war with Israel. He repeated the threat of Hezbollah’s willingness to use arms, stated during the negotiations held in October 2022 regarding the maritime border with Israel, when the talks failed and he claimed Israel had begun producing gas from the Karish reservoir.
• Regarding Israel, he said the Netanyahu government was heading towards two main confrontations, one internal and one with the Palestinians, which was liable to cross Israel’s borders. He said that the situation in Israel was unprecedented and he both assessed and hoped the State of Israel would collapse before it marked the 80^th year of its existence.
• Regarding the tension in Judea and Samaria, he said Hezbollah “esteemed the Palestinian people, especially the younger generation in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” adding that the “genuine Palestinian intifada was embraced by the Palestinian people” (al-Manar, February 18, 2023).
• After Nasrallah, Na’im Qassem, deputy Hezbollah secretary general, declared that the current government of Israel was “the best government for supporting the collapse of the entity.” Israel, he claimed, suffered from political, cultural and moral upheavals, and faced Palestinian people capable of a firm stance and sacrifice. The situation caused a crisis in Israel, and Hezbollah was convinced it would collapse quickly, claiming Nasrallah’s “spider web”^[1] assessment would soon be realized.
• Three days previously, Qassem related to the aerial attack near Damascus attributed to Israel, claiming “Israeli aggression against Syria and its citizens is a crime against humanity and an expression of the American-European bias which protects the aggressive Israeli entity” (Na’im Qassem’s Twitter account, February 20, 2023).
• Hezbollah launched a campaign called “The spider’s house,” which issues statement made by Israel politicians about the possibility about a civil war in Israel and the internal weakness of Israeli society. Among the politicians were Ministry of Defense Yoav Galant, Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid and former Israeli Security Agency head Yuval Diskin (al-Ghad, March 1, 2023).

• Hezbollah strongly condemned the IDF’s activity in Nablus in which 11 Palestinians were killed and about 100 wounded.^[2] Hezbollah said in a statement that it “strongly denounces the treacherous Zionist aggression attacking the dear city of Nablus,” and sent its condolences to “the Palestinian people and all the ‘resistance’ [i.e., terrorist] organizations.” Hezbollah also claimed that the “occupation forces’ cruel attack” on “innocent civilians” confirmed that Israel was deterred only by the guns of the “resistance fighters” [terrorist operatives], who would teach it a lesson that would end its “terrorism.” Hezbollah reiterated its solidarity with the Palestinian people, claiming it would support it and the choices made by its leadership (Telegram channel of Hezbollah’s combat information wing, February 22, 2023).
• Hezbollah praised the “expulsion of the Israeli delegation” from the African Union summit meeting in Addis Ababa on February 18, 2023. The delegation was removed from the meeting as a consequence of Algerian and South African pressure, and Israel’s membership in the African Union was cancelled (al-Mayadeen, February 18, 2023). Hezbollah praised Algeria’s “brave stance” and cooperation with South Africa, which led to the event. According to Hezbollah, it “proved” the rejection of Israel’s existence (“the existence of the Zionist entity”) and that “all attempts at normalization between the entity and Arab countries are nothing but an illusion” (al-Nur, February 20, 2023).

Hezbollah and money

• The American administration announced that Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi, one of Hezbollah’s key financiers, had been detained in Romania. Bazzi, 58 years old, was detained at the Bucharest airport along with Lebanese citizen Talal Shahin, 78 years old. Bazzi holds dual Lebanese and Belgian citizenship. He was designated a global terrorist in 2018, and the United States offered a reward of $10 million for information about his whereabouts. Over the years Bazzi transferred millions of dollars to Hezbollah’s coffers. The two detainees were deported from Romania to the United States (Department of Justice, New York District, February 24, 2023).
•  The American authorities recorded phone calls between Bazzi and Shahin, who discussed concealing their activities from law-enforcement agencies. They suggested transferring funds through a third party in China as part of a fictitious purchase of restaurant equipment from a Chinese manufacturer and a third party in Lebanon as part of a purchase of fictitious real estate. They also tried to transfer funds through relatives of Shahin in Kuwait as false loans, and as part of a fictitious franchise agreement as payment for rights to operate branches of a Lebanese restaurant in the United States (al-Sharq al-Awsat, February 26, 2023).

• Israeli Ministry of Defense Yoav Galant issued an order for the seizure of 50 kilograms (1763.7 ounces) of gold transferred to Hezbollah by Badr al-Din Naimi Musawi. It was smuggled from Venezuela to Tehran on an Iranian Mahan Air flight in May 2022. Musawi is an Iranian businessman and the owner of the British real estate companies Strattonview Properties Limited and Lotus Universal U.K Limited, as well as an international trading company in Dubai called Trading Acs. He serves as a tool for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Qods Force and exploited his business and political connections in Venezuela. The gold was smuggled by plane directly to Iran and the profits from its sale were used to fund Hezbollah’s operations.
• The same aerial route is used by high-ranking Hezbollah operatives who are under sanction by the United States for their involvement in terrorism, among them Ali Qasir, the Hezbollah economic ministry representative in Tehran, and Muhammad Qasir (Sheikh Salah), head of Hezbollah’s Logistic Unit #4400, who deals with transferring Qods Force funds to Hezbollah for its operation. Masawi also participated in the Qods Force delegation to Venezuela, along with the Mahan Air CEO Hamid Arabnejad, part of Iran’s efforts to increase its influence in South America to turn it into a base for funding and promoting terrorism (The national headquarters for the economic combatting of terrorism, February 26, 2023).
• According to reports, with the economic crisis and closing of banks in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s al-Qard al-Hassan Association opened four additional branches. The Association is Hezbollah’s internal banking system, separate from the national Lebanese system. It represents itself as a charitable organization which gives Lebanese interest-free loans. One of the branches was opened in the Souq al-Gharab region in south Lebanon, an area which is primarily Christian and beyond the region of Hezbollah’s control. Banking sources claimed the al-Qard al-Hassan Association, which is not a bank, was profiting from the weakness of the Lebanese banks and their inability to give loans, and had “inherited the role [of loan-giving bank] and begun giving loans to Lebanese in return for collateral of gold or property” (al-Nahar, February 17, 2023).

South Lebanon

• On March 1, 2023, an Israeli tank was documented in the Adeisseh region to the north of Kibbutz Misgav Am. No other information was reported, but apparently the tank was trying to avoid a boulder blocking the road (Ali Shoeib’s Twitter account, March 1, 2023).
• On February 25, 2023, IDF surveillance identified two suspicious individuals smuggling drugs into Israel from south Lebanon near the village of Aramsheh in the Western Galilee. IDF fighters and Israeli police prevented the smuggling, apprehended one of the smugglers and confiscated 48 kgs of drugs worth more than $500,000. The smuggler and the drugs were turned over to the Israel Police Force (IDF Telegram channel, February 26, 2023).
• On February 24, 2023, Hezbollah’s media outlets announced the death of operative Ali Yahya al-Zayn (aka Karbala), from the town of Shehur in south Lebanon. The circumstances of his death were not made public but he was described as having died while “fulfilling his jihad duty” (al-Markazia, February 24, 2023).
• Lebanese sources reported that a flare fired by the IDF fell on a house in Wadi Khansa, near al-Majidiya, northeast of the village of Ghajar. Three artillery shells also reportedly fell near the house. No casualties were reported. It was also reported that mortar shells were fired which exploded in the air, and pieces of them fell inside Lebanon (Ali Shoeib’s Twitter account, February 22, 2023).
• On the night of February 18, 2023, IDF forces prevented arms from being smuggled from the Lebanese border near the village of Aramsheh. One suspect was detained and four handguns and ammunition were found in his possession, worth about $41,000. The suspect and weapons were turned over to the Israel Police Force (IDF Telegram channel, February 19, 2023).

Palestinians in Lebanon

• A Fatah operative was killed in an exchange of fire between Fatah operatives and religious extremists in the Ayn al-Hilweh refugee camp in south Lebanon. The clash broke out after a relatively long period of calm. After the event contacts were established between the Palestinian forces in the camp to calm the situation and halt gunfire (al-Mayadeen, March 1, 2023).
• The Palestinian refugee camps celebrated the shooting attack in which two Israeli brothers were killed in the town of Hawwara south of Nablus on February 26, 2023. War cries were heard in the mosques and at meetings. The loudspeakers in the mosque minarets proclaimed that the “operation [sic] was the genuine natural reaction to the enemies crimes and worsening slaughter [sic] of our people, the most recent of which was the slaughter in Nablus a few days ago which claimed the lives of 12 shaheeds” (qudspress.com, February 26, 2023).

• On February 16, 2023, Fatah and Hamas representatives met in the Palestinian embassy in Beirut. The meeting was attended by Ashraf Dabour, the Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon; Fathi Abu al-Ardath, Fatah and PLO secretary general; several members of the Lebanese Fatah leadership and a Hamas delegation headed by Saleh al-‘Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau. Ali Baraka, head of Hamas’ national relations abroad, said that events in the Palestinian arena made it imperative for all the Palestinian forces to unite [to formulate] a comprehensive strategy to deal with Israel’s plans, which did not take international law and human rights into consideration. He added that the meeting would protect the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, protect their rights to return to their country and deal with projects to find a solution through resettlement in an alternative country (qudspress, February 17, 2023).

Lebanon

• Three Lebanese army soldiers were killed during a raid on drug dealers in the town of Hortaala, south of Ba’albek. Three drug dealers were killed in an exchange of fire, three were detained and three evaded capture by crossing the Lebanese-Syrian border. The raid was part of a Lebanese army program combatting drug dealers, and raids have been carried out in the Ba’albek area almost on a daily basis (al-Sharq al-Awsat, February 17, 2023). Lebanon is the main pipeline for smuggling drugs from Syria.
• Two armed men shot at the al-Jadid channel building in Beirut. They were identified and taken for interrogation. According to reports, they belonged to the Shi’ite Amal movement and were found to have large quantities of weapons and drugs in their possession. The police investigation revealed they had changed the license plates on their vehicle before shooting at the building (al-Nashra, February 25, 2023).

Lebanon’s financial crisis

• On February 16, 2023, Lebanese civilians in Tripoli burned tires and blocked access to the Awda Bank to protest the financial crisis. A rally was held in front of the Fransabank in Beirut by the Cry of the Depositors Association. Members of the association gathered in front of the house of Salim Safir, president of the Lebanese bankers’ union. Alaa Khorshid, chairman of the association, gave a speech at the rally and demonstrators set fire to the entrance to the house (al-Nahar, February 16, 2023).

Syria

•  Syrian sources reported that on March 1, 2023, flysheets were distributed in the Daraa and Quneitra regions in western Syria warning the Syrian regime forces that Hezbollah would invade the Tel al-Hara base near the border. According to the flysheets, “To the commanders and others in the Syrian army: we will not accept the continued presence of Hezbollah in the Tel al-Hara bases or cooperate with them. Hezbollah continues to deploy its messengers in the region and its presence brings plague and destruction, and you are the first who will be attacked” (al-Sharq al-Awsat, March 2, 2023). According to several sources, the flysheets were dropped by Israel patrol planes (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, March 1, 2023).

• Two Syrians were detained by IDF forces during an operational activity in the southern Golan Heights in January 2023. The two suspects crossed the border from Syria into Israel east of the border security fence and were detained east of the enclave under Israeli sovereignty. One of the was Aith Abdallah, a Syrian citizen who lived in the village of al-Asbah in the Syrian Golan Heights and is suspected of terrorist activity and collecting intelligence near the border for purposes of future terrorist activity. He belongs to the Golan File Unit,^[3] which is active in southern Syria and Lebanon. During interrogation he revealed information about three other terrorist operatives working to promote terrorist activities along the border, one of whom was, like him, a member of the al-Asbah cell and two others from the cell in the village of al-Asha (IDF spokesman, February 20, 2023).

^[1] Nasrallah gave his "spider's web" speech on May 26, 2000, saying that "Israel has nuclear weapons and the strongest regional air force, but in reality it is weaker than a spider's web," hinting at the alleged weakness of Israeli society. ↑
^[2] At least six of the Palestinians killed were terrorist operatives. For further information, see the February 23, 2023 report, "Reactions to the IDF Activity in Nablus (February 22, 2023)." ↑
^[3] The objective of the Golan File Unit is to collect into for the purpose of carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel. The unit is based on local residents who live near the Israeli border and operate under instructions from Hezbollah, which pays their salaries. ↑

Related Articles