In “Recovery Phase—Lebanon” (Money Laundering Bulletin, 16 January 2025), Amir Fadavi comments on the challenges Lebanon faces to remove itself from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) list of jurisdictions with serious anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) deficiencies. One such challenge is the country’s connection to Hezbollah, whose financial networks have been disrupted by Israeli attacks and the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Amir notes: “Hezbollah has openly said they lost access to one of their most important channels for money and equipment—Syria. For Iran to send cash it will be tougher, but the Syria route may be replaced with other countries in the region like Iraq. It’s going to be more and more difficult, as Iran is also feeling the pressure.”
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