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As Israeli airstrikes and drone attacks continue to pound South Lebanon, a strategic front is rapidly emerging. Israel is now openly targeting Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure, marking a shift from battlefield confrontation to economic warfare.
This week was a turning point. On Wednesday, the Israeli military released an unprecedented map exposing several Lebanese currency exchange offices accused of financing Hezbollah. The message could not be clearer: in Tel Aviv’s campaign against Iran’s regional proxies, no actor or asset is off limits.
Precision Warfare, Financial Targets
That same day, the Israeli army announced the killing of Haitham Abdallah Bakri, described as a “pillar of Hezbollah’s financial apparatus” and head of the al-Sadek exchange network. Based on military intelligence, the operation in South Lebanon was part of a broader effort to dismantle what Israel calls “the economic infrastructure of terrorism.”
Alongside the announcement, a detailed map pinpointed currency exchange offices in Beirut, the Beqaa (notably Chtaura) and South Lebanon. These offices form a crucial financial corridor between Tehran and Hezbollah’s base in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Among the named entities now in Israel’s crosshairs: Maliha Exchange (run by Hussein Chahine), al-Insaf Exchange (Ali Chams), Hassan Ayache, Ramez Mecattaf and Yara Exchange (Mohammad Badr Barbir).
A Hit List in Disguise?
This map appears to be more than just a tool of psychological warfare; it may be an active kill list. Two recent assassinations suggest as much: Mohammad Srour, a currency trader shot dead in his Beit Mery villa in April 2024, and Haitham Bakri, eliminated by a precision missile strike this past Tuesday. Two high-profile targets. Two calculated operations. One shared role: moving money for Hezbollah.
Hezbollah’s Shadow Economy
For years, international sanctions, then Lebanon’s economic collapse in 2020, have forced Hezbollah to adapt its financial operations. Under a new government that has imposed strict border controls, these operations have increasingly shifted underground.
Today, Hezbollah’s funding flows through an opaque ecosystem of informal currency exchanges. These are often family-run, lightly regulated outfits capable of moving millions in near-total secrecy.
According to US Treasury reports, Hezbollah’s financial lifelines rely on a complex web of anonymized bank accounts, shell companies and informal money transfer networks spanning Turkey, Iraq, the Gulf countries, and even Russia.
At the heart of this system was Behnam Shahriari, the commander of Unit 190 of Iran’s Quds Force, recently killed in Iran. He was reportedly responsible for overseeing the laundering and transfer of hard currency into Hezbollah’s hands via Lebanese exchange offices.
The battlefield has shifted. The war is no longer solely fought on South Lebanon’s ridges, but also in quiet exchange shops where bundles of US dollars change hands out of sight.
A financial expert who studied Hezbollah’s illicit funding structure told This is Beirut: “Israel isn’t just bombing rocket sites or weapons depots anymore. It’s cutting off the blood supply that keeps Hezbollah fighting. Every rocket fired, every fighter paid, begins with a bank transfer.”
He pointed to the recent killings of Mohammad Srour and Haitham Bakri as unmistakable signals: “The speed and precision of their eliminations leave little doubt: a financial kill list exists and is being methodically executed.”
For the first time, Israel’s war isn’t just targeting commanders or engineers; it’s going after Hezbollah’s financial brain – its war accountants.
Hawala, the Hidden Backbone of Hezbollah’s Financial Network
Behind the currency exchange counters now targeted by Israeli drones lies a far more extensive and elusive system, one far harder to dismantle than precision strikes suggest. This is hawala, an age-old informal money transfer network that has operated across the Middle East for centuries.
Unlike traditional banking, hawala operates on personal trust between brokers and leaves virtually no electronic trace. Its resilience against sanctions and surveillance makes it an ideal conduit for discreet financial flows.
Declassified US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) documents reveal Hezbollah’s use of hawala through tightly knit, community-based networks that covertly transfer tens of millions of dollars while avoiding banking sanctions.
Investigations by the US Treasury, the United Nations and financial crime watchdogs identify hawala as a cornerstone of Hezbollah’s global funding apparatus. The Iran-backed group systematically channels money across a vast geography – Iran, Iraq, Syria, the Gulf, European, Asian and African countries, and Lebanon – through a web of partner offices, often family-run and concealed behind legitimate businesses.
Reports from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) reveal that some currency exchange offices in Beirut, Zahle and Nabatieh act as hawala clearinghouses. They balance inter-broker debts through trade payments, sham imports or fictitious loans.
An expert told This is Beirut: “The process is simple. A sender gives cash to a local ‘hawaladar’ (broker), who relays the payment instruction, via phone or encrypted message, to a counterpart in another country, whether Turkey, the UAE, Syria, Iraq, Iran, or even Germany, Belgium or Côte d’Ivoire. The recipient receives the equivalent amount, often without any formal record. The brokers settle their debts later through trade offsets or concealed transfers.”
In Lebanon, once funds arrive, they are funneled through al-Qard al-Hassan, Hezbollah’s quasi-financial institution. Disguised as an Islamic charity, it collects hawala-sourced funds from the Lebanese diaspora and redistributes them as loans, salaries or investments.
Though these networks appear civilian, Israel now regards them as strategically vital, as critical as missile stockpiles, and is determined to strike at their core.
CTEX and the Expansive Reach of Hezbollah’s Hawala Network
At the forefront of Israel’s financial offensive is CTEX Exchange Company, one of Lebanon’s leading money transfer firms. In February 2023, CTEX was sanctioned by the US Treasury’s OFAC for funneling millions of dollars into Lebanon to finance Hezbollah through covert channels.
OFAC investigations found that CTEX acted as a clandestine conduit for Iran’s Quds Force, working closely with Hezbollah’s financial operatives. The company played a central role in settling debts among “hawaladars” operating in Damascus, Beirut, Tehran and Baghdad, facilitating money laundering via shell companies, sham contracts and inflated invoices.
In April 2023, US security sources identified 52 shell companies linked to Nazem Said Ahmad, a Beirut-based diamond dealer. These entities operated across South Africa, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and laundered as much as $440 million between 2020 and 2022.
Funds flowing through these channels were routed to al-Qard al-Hassan or to individuals close to Hezbollah’s military leadership.
CTEX’s name also appears in confidential European investigations probing transfers from the Shia diaspora in Belgium, Germany and Sweden. These networks use CTEX-affiliated agents to receive funds, convert them into cash, and channel them into Hezbollah’s internal financial system.
By targeting exchange houses like CTEX, Israel is reshaping the contours of this covert conflict, and shifting the battlefield from weapons caches to financial arteries.
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