US offers $10m for information on Hezbollah financing network
The US State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Lebanese Hezbollah's financing network. 'Smuggled cash from Iran supports Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon,' the department said in a post on X. 'Help us stop the money flow.' In a more detailed pamphlet attached to the post, the State Department said that Hezbollah funds its 'terrorism through various illicit activities including use of commercial and other civilian aircraft to smuggle cash". Anyone with information on 'airport employees, customs officers or aviation officials' who may be involved in Hezbollah financing networks were urged to come forward. The US has often offered cash incentives to try to gather information on foreign terrorist organisations and wanted people. In 2021, it offered $10 million to anyone with information on Salim Ayyash, a Hezbollah member sentenced in the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri 16 years earlier. In 2020, it offered the same amount for information on an Iran-Hezbollah financing network. Hezbollah, once a powerful political and military organisation, is reeling from a string of defeats at the hands of Israel. Last year, the Israeli military killed Hezbollah's long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah, an influential figure in Lebanon and the wider region, as well as other leaders. It severely hampered the group's military capabilities. The US has thrown its support behind Lebanon's new government led by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun, and urged the country to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding.
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