News of halt of financial allocations for some of Hezbollah’s allies and journalists, and closing of Iran-financed television al-Alam, come to assure the news of the party’s financial crisis which clearly reflected on its society, like reported by aawsat.com.
Al-Alam had called upon its employees to attend sessions of liquefying its assets due to the current situation, and following the request it had presented to the Ministry of Labor.
“Lebanon 24” News site reported sources saying that Hezbollah’s circle of allies began lessening expenses of all committees, conventions, and study-centers.
Sources indicated that projects executed by president of al-Tawhid movement Wiam Wahhab and financed by Iran had stopped because the funding ceased during this time.
Political researcher Ali al-Amin said that anyone who enters the southern suburb of Beirut, which is considered Hezbollah’s stronghold, can sense the social and economic cries suffered by the party’s society.
Amin said that in addition to that, number of “mafias”, gangs, and theft increased which reflects the deterioration of Hezbollah’s public and private situations. He added, the party became incapable of financing a lot of social causes.
“The party is now unable to support and finance the close circuits within its organizations,” Amin told Asharq Al-Awsat.
He pointed out that Iran’s financial support receded, adding that the U.S. sanctions posed on the party was clearly reflected on its surrounding environment.
However, Amin said, that Hezbollah is Iran’s strong arm in Lebanon and thus a priority. War in Syria takes a lot of this funding despite that fighters’ allocations were decreased to a 50% in some cases.
Amin doesn’t rule out that this will affect Hezbollah during the parliamentary elections.
“I believe that Hezbollah wishes to postpone the elections, because it is unable, during this crisis, to meet the political and funding needs,” he concluded.
It is worth mentioning, that U.S. imposed sanctions on banks and financial institutions that deal with Hezbollah or contribute with its money laundry and institutions.
The U.S. even added more sanctions since President Trump took office. They even made a list of names of Lebanese personnel and companies that work for Hezbollah.
