By Nohad Topalian | 2025-03-10

BEIRUT -- Hizbullah is facing its first financial crisis in more than 30 years after losing critical funding routes via land and air, even as it comes under pressure to compensate its base for losses sustained in the latest war.

Lebanon's new government recently blocked Iranian commercial flights to Beirut following intelligence reports that indicated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was using passenger flights to smuggle cash to Hizbullah.

"Hizbullah is struggling with major funding problems, finding new financing sources and reestablishing logistical connections with Iran," journalist Samir Skaf wrote in Janoubia.

In Syria, the forces and affiliates of Ahmed al-Sharaa have begun cracking down on border area clans conducting cross-border Captagon smuggling operations previously facilitated by the former Syrian regime's 4th Division and Hizbullah.

Once "a free market for Hizbullah," the Lebanon-Syria border has been cleared of facilities that manufactured drugs and forged currencies, providing revenue for the Iran-backed party, journalist Tony Boulos told Al-Fassel.

Hizbullah still maintains some funding avenues through "a complex global network for money laundering," but even these long-established channels are crumbling and prove insufficient to address the current crisis, Boulos said.

Funding shortfall is evident

"Hizbullah started refraining from talking openly about its financial distress," Taharror political movement founder Ali Khalifeh told Al-Fassel.

But the party's cash flow shortfall has become evident to the general public in light of the decrease in financial aid to its base and those in line for compensation for damage resulting from the war, he said.

As the party's funding routes and sources dry up, its financial arm, Al-Qard al-Hassan, has scaled back compensation payments, announcing it will only honor vouchers under $1,000 without delay at the present time.

"Recipients received financial aid that was far less than the cost of rebuilding and repair, with larger aid amounts limited to those holding party membership cards," Khalifeh said.

Al-Qard al-Hassan is "facing major problems, after many branches lost financial deposits and gold in airstrikes," he added, noting that this will draw resentment when depositors "discover the true fate of their savings."

"While Hizbullah currently continues to pay salaries, the sustainability of this practice remains in question," a source within Hizbullah with knowledge of its operations told the Washington Post.

"What happened in Syria broke the camel's back. It broke the connection between Iran and Hizbullah," political science professor Hilal Khashan said.

In his opinion, Khashan said, the party lacks the financial strength to rebuild independently without external support.