A man allegedly carrying $2.5 million in cash destined for the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah reportedly was detained Friday at Beirut’s airport in a bust that an expert told Fox News Digital is “unprecedented.”
“The detainee and the seized funds will be handed over to the investigation division at the General Directorate of General Security,” Lebanon’s finance ministry said in a statement obtained by Reuters, which cited sources saying that the man had been traveling from Turkey.
“We are seeing indications that the terrorist Hezbollah group funded by the Islamic Republic is still committed to rearming and rebuilding its decimated infrastructure,” Israeli ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon told Fox News Digital. “This is yet another attempt of Tehran to destabilize the Middle East. Israel will not hesitate to defend itself from any threat it perceives from the north.”
“The $2.5 million dollar seizure is unprecedented,” added David Daoud, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
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Hezbollah members salute and raise the group’s yellow flags during the funeral of fallen fighters who were killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicles, in Shehabiya in south Lebanon in April 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
“We haven’t seen anything like this. Now, this does track though the fact this money is coming in from Turkey, this does track with Israeli claims that Turkey is being used as a conduit by the Iranians to get more funds to Hezbollah,” Daoud told Fox News Digital.
“Plausibly, this is one thing that got caught – how many cash transfers are getting through the dragnet?” he also said.
The money the individual was carrying was bound for Hezbollah, which has been weakened recently by Israel’s military, sources told Reuters.
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A Middle East Airlines plane takes off from Beirut’s international airport as people inspect damage from an area on the southern outskirts of Beirut that was targeted by Israeli airstrikes on Nov. 7, 2024. Sources told the Times of Israel on Friday that the man carrying the cash for Hezbollah was stopped at the airport. (AFP via Getty Images)
There was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah on Friday.
Since the onset of Israel’s war against Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces engaged in cross-border skirmishes with Hezbollah – including ground operations on Lebanese soil – until a ceasefire deal was struck late last year.
Mourners attend the funeral of slain Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium on the outskirts of Beirut on Feb. 23, 2025. (Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images)
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Former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Lebanon by an Israeli airstrike in September.
