Iran
and Hizballah Prioritize Terrorism Funding Over Societal Development
by IPT News • Apr 11, 2018 at
11:27 am
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Despite facing growing unrest and a weakening economy, Iran continues to
funnel massive amounts of money and resources to its main terrorist
proxies, especially Hizballah, in order to expand its reach.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's recent budget allocates far more
funds to regime-controlled religious charities and regional terrorist
activities at the expense of domestic social and economic programs,
according to an analysis Sunday in Al-Arabiya English.
Rouhani's government claims to be focused on reducing poverty and
improving employment opportunities, yet it continues to cut subsidies on
basic commodities and financial transfers to poor families amid rising fuel
and food prices.
Instead of supporting its own people, Iran is devoting $7.4 billion to
the military – primarily toward its ballistic missile program and Iran's
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)'s regional expansion.
Iran has flat out rejected any efforts to renegotiate the nuclear
agreement, amid reports of European efforts last month to constrain Iran's
regional expansion and ballistic missile program.
The Lebanese terrorist organization Hizballah is a major beneficiary of
the latest budget. Iran "is believed by some analysts to fund it
[Hizballah] to the tune of $300 million a year, although many now believe
the sum is more like $1 billion," writes Tony Duheaume.
Combined with its international criminal enterprise and drug-smuggling
network, Hizballah has no shortage of resources to continue consolidating
operating bases to target Israel.
Hizballah's involvement in the international drug trade is well
documented.
It cultivates a major base of operations in the Tri-Border Area (TBA),
straddling Brazil and Argentina and Paraguay. With a large Muslim
population featuring significant numbers of Hizballah sympathizers, the
terrorist organization uses this area for recruitment, arms smuggling and drug trafficking, and logistics planning for terrorist
operations.
The TBA remains "an
important regional nexus of arms, narcotics, pirated goods, human
smuggling, counterfeiting, and money laundering – all potential funding
sources for terrorist organizations," the U.S. State Department has
said.
A significant portion of the profit earned from Hizballah's illegal
activities is laundered via car sales to Africa, in addition to used car
dealerships in the United States.
With Iran's help, Hizballah has evolved from a clandestine terrorist
group to a full-fledged guerilla organization and is now one of the most
powerful hybrid terrorist-militaries in the Arab world. Iran continues to
equip Hizballah with the latest sophisticated and advanced weaponry that poses a direct threat to Israel's national security.
Beyond military and terrorist capabilities, Hizballah enhances its
propaganda infrastructure worldwide, publishing its own newspapers,
magazines, and books promoting the Islamic Republic's ideology. Iran helps
cover the $15 million per year required to sustain Hizballah's Al
Manar satellite television network intended to broaden its ideological
reach to Shi'a communities worldwide.
Hizballah's devotion to Iran's revolutionary ideology takes precedence
over Lebanon's constitution, Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said in a
March 10 speech delivered to Iranians in Lebanon. Hizballah
adheres to Ayatollah Khamenei's orders, Nasrallah added, and avoids
engaging in any behavior that irritates the supreme leader. While Hizballah
claims to be Lebanon's protector and vanguard, the speech reaffirms
Hizballah's primary commitment to carrying out Iran's directives, even at
the expense of Lebanese domestic interests.
Related Topics: Hizballah,
Terror
Financing | IPT News, Iran,
Shi'ite
axis, Hassan
Rouhani, IRGC,
Tri-Border
Area, Al-Manar,
Hassan
Nasrallah, Hizballah,
Terror
Financing
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