Hezbollah Secretary-General Denies Group's Involvement in Drug Trafficking

Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, dismissed recent accusations from the United States regarding the group's potential involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering as "baseless." According to Reuters, Nasrallah spoke via closed-circuit television to his supporters in Beirut on Friday, January 19, marking his first response to the U.S. Attorney General's establishment of a truth-seeking team last month to investigate Hezbollah's alleged activities in drug trafficking and money laundering. Some reports published last month in U.S. media accused the Obama administration of ignoring Hezbollah's criminal activities to reach a nuclear deal with Iran. In this context, some Republican figures in the U.S. criticized the previous administration's actions, stating that this approach effectively halted a project known as "Cassandra." As Politico reported, the "Cassandra" project was planned in 2008 by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to monitor international criminal activities attributed to Hezbollah. Last month, Sessions expressed hope that the truth-seeking committee would conclude that the previous administration's actions did not obstruct the implementation of the "Cassandra" project, which was "of particular importance for the security of the American people." However, according to Lebanese media, Nasrallah stated on Friday that the U.S. accusations are "not the first time they have been raised" and are "completely false." He claimed that this "slander" is part of the West's propaganda war against Hezbollah. Nasrallah also asserted that Hezbollah considers drug trafficking "forbidden" from a religious, legal, and ethical standpoint, and is "even unwilling to give it to an enemy like Israel." At the same time, he acknowledged that recent U.S. actions in forming a truth-seeking committee regarding Hezbollah's activities "could have new repercussions." According to the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, the group is fundamentally "not involved in lawful trade because it has no money to invest in commerce and investment"; he added that Hezbollah does not prevent investment or trade by its supporters and those ideologically close to it. Nasrallah further stated that "the money allocated to Hezbollah is sufficient for its activities in various fields." The Secretary-General did not refer to the sources of the funds allocated to the group, but he mentioned last year in response to the possibility of sanctions against Lebanese banks suspected of ties to Hezbollah that such actions are ineffective because Hezbollah clearly states that "weapons, bread, water, money, and everything comes from Iran" and "as long as Iran has money, Hezbollah has money."