By Samah Abdul Fattah | 2024-11-14

The killing of a key Hizbullah financier in Syria and other financial operatives in Lebanon is a significant blow to the Iran-backed party, disrupting its funding operations and weakening its influence in the region, experts said.

Targeting the leadership of Unit 4400 -- Hizbullah's transportation unit, which is responsible for arms shipments -- has a greater impact than eliminating its political or military leaders, sources told Al-Fassel.

The unit is additionally responsible for securing and transferring hundreds of millions of dollars annually to Hizbullah, from oil trading in Syria, smuggling and other activities, making it the group's financial lifeline.

"Eliminating the financial wing of Hizbullah is more important than eliminating its field commanders and political leaders," said Iranian affairs researcher Fathi al-Sayed of Al-Sharq Center for Regional and Strategic Studies.

"All of them can be replaced, with the exception of those entrusted with the movement of funds," he told Al-Fassel.

He added that without Unit 4400, Hizbullah would struggle to operate, recruit fighters, pay salaries or acquire weapons from "the black market."

Curbing Iranian regime's reach

Disrupting Hizbullah's finances will hamper the Iranian regime's regional activities, given the close ties between the Lebanese party and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), al-Sayed said.

He also suggested that weakening Hizbullah could benefit Lebanon by shielding it from international sanctions and its inclusion on financial gray lists.

Two key figures in Unit 4400 were killed within a month, said Salah Mansour, a relative of a former senior Hizbullah official with close ties to the party's leadership, particularly in the Bekaa Valley.

Hizbullah commander Muhammad Jaafar Qasir, who was responsible for overseeing weapons transfers from the Iranian regime and its proxies to the Lebanese party and was under US sanctions, was killed in Beirut in October.

Qasir's successor, Ali Hassan Gharib, also known as Abu Hassan Ayman, was killed in an October 21 air strike in Damascus. Social media accounts associated with Hizbullah described him as a leader and engineer.

Unit 4400 operates a sophisticated network for money laundering and transferring funds from Hizbullah-linked companies worldwide to Lebanon, Mansour said.

He said the unit's operations are highly secretive, involving a small number of individuals, making its disruption particularly damaging to the party.

Mansour also cited the death of Hashem Safieddine, who oversaw Hizbullah's transfer of funds from Iran and other countries, as another significant setback to the group’s financial operations.