“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.