“The relationship between the cartels and Hezbollah is long-standing, significant and multifaceted,” the senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, Hans-Jakob Schindler, told The New York Sun. Mr. Schindler said the “strategically most significant part” of the relationship between the cartels and Hezbollah is financial cooperation in the international illicit drug trade. “This also includes money laundering activities that Hezbollah is now also able to offer other organized crime networks as a service,” he said, adding, “This role has only increased since the war with Israel following the attack of Hezbollah on Israel” the day after Hamas’s assault on October 7, 2023.

“The relationship between the cartels and Hezbollah is long-standing, significant and multifaceted,” the senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, Hans-Jakob Schindler, told The New York Sun. Mr. Schindler said the “strategically most significant part” of the relationship between the cartels and Hezbollah is financial cooperation in the international illicit drug trade.

“This also includes money laundering activities that Hezbollah is now also able to offer other organized crime networks as a service,” he said, adding, “This role has only increased since the war with Israel following the attack of Hezbollah on Israel” the day after Hamas’s assault on October 7, 2023.

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler discusses Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel. 

This is a typical case, says terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director at the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) in Berlin and New York. "Basically, Berlin and Germany are important areas for Hezbollah to recruit sympathizers, spread propaganda, and acquire funds, for example through donations," Schindler says.

A recent report by the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) and the research organization Counter Extremism Project (CEP) entitled "West Africa's Terrorist Challenge" describes West Africa as a global hinge for Hezbollah financing. The system works via money laundering through import-export companies and foreign exchange offices. Added to this are revenues from drug trafficking, smuggling and criminal diamond deals. For example, cash from cocaine sales is collected in West Africa and invested elsewhere in consumer goods or cars, which are then exported to the region. The proceeds are brought to Beirut in cash or forwarded via the informal hawala transfer system. In the USA, this process ran under the code name "Project Cassandra", write the authors of the KAS/CEP report.

This has also affected the militia's financial basis in Lebanon, says security expert and terrorism researcher Hans Jakob Schindler. "Although these sources of income are of significant importance to the terrorist group, it is not facing financial collapse," says the head of the non-governmental organization Counter Extremism Project.  This is because the terrorist organization also receives support from abroad. Since it was founded in 1988, Hezbollah has benefited from financial and military support from Tehran and has expanded its international networks. Among other things, it engages in drug trafficking and money laundering for organized crime and collects donations worldwide despite sanctions. "This guarantees the group's financial survival, albeit most likely at a reduced size," says Schindler.

Host Bill Roggio and CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton‑Brown break down the post‑12‑Day War chessboard: The Houthis, Hezbollah, and Tehran’s other proxies—what they’ve learned, and where to anticipate the next flashpoint.