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US Senators Sound Alarm Over Hezbollah’s Expanding Operations in Latin America
Supporters of Hezbollah attend a protest organized by them against what they said was a violation of national sovereignty, near Beirut international airport, Lebanon, Feb. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Emilie Madi
As Iran grapples with mounting international sanctions, US lawmakers have warned that Lebanese Hezbollah, the Iranian regime’s chief proxy force in the Middle East, is turning more to its overseas financial networks to finance illicit operations, while expanding its footprint across Latin America, particularly in Venezuela.
At a Senate Caucus on International Counternarcotics Control hearing on Tuesday, both Republican and Democratic senators discussed how Hezbollah has firmly entrenched itself in Latin America’s criminal networks under the protection of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who provides “a safe haven” for the Iran-backed terrorist group.
According to multiple expert witnesses, under the protection of Maduro’s regime, illicit activities including narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and passport-for-terrorist schemes have thrived, making Venezuela the “most important facilitator for Hezbollah in Latin America.”
“Venezuela is a willing safe haven for what remains the most lethal, dangerous foreign terrorist organization to the United States,” Marshall Billingslea, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a Washington, DC-based think tank, said during the hearing.
In the past, Hezbollah’s operations in South America were largely concentrated in Colombia and the Tri-Border Area — where Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil intersect and illicit activity has long thrived — an especially notable hotspot for organized crime across the region.
However, under Maduro’s leadership and amid growing ties with Iran, Venezuela has become an increasingly significant financial hub for Hezbollah operatives.
Among other activities, the US claims that the terrorist group funds its operations through a wide range of illicit schemes, including money laundering, drug trafficking — including so-called “black cocaine” — smuggling charcoal and oil, illegal diamond trading, document forgery, counterfeiting US dollars, and trafficking large amounts of cash, cigarettes, and luxury goods.
During Tuesday’s hearing, US senators warned that Hezbollah’s expanding footprint in Latin America has now become a hemispheric threat, requiring a coordinated US response.
Both Republicans and Democrats urged more Latin American nations — particularly Brazil and Mexico — to follow the lead of Argentina, Colombia, and Paraguay in designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, arguing that doing so would help disrupt its financial networks and curb Iran’s influence in the region.
The US officially designated Hezbollah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 1997 and later as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group in 2001, while Iran was classified as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1984.
During the hearing, several senators also called for a tougher government response to Venezuela’s cooperation with Iran, warning that their expanding partnership poses an increasing threat.
Iran is the chief international backer of Hezbollah, as well as the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, providing these Islamist groups with weapons, funding, and training.
Hezbollah has long been “one of Iran’s tools to destabilize and terrorize,” operating extensively across the globe, said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate International Narcotics Control Caucus.
However, as economic sanctions strain Iran and disrupt Hezbollah’s financial channels in the Middle East, the group is turning more heavily to Latin American criminal networks and illicit activities to sustain itself.
“Hezbollah has a long history of turning to its diaspora networks when it’s facing financial stress,” said Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “If you need big money real fast, you turn to illicit activities and especially to narcotics trafficking.”
Levitt noted that Iran “is having a much harder time getting that money to Hezbollah in a timely manner,” explaining that the Lebanese Islamist group has been operating in Latin America for nearly 50 years.
Senators expressed alarm over the proximity of the threat to the US homeland.
“This is not just about the Middle East anymore,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said during the hearing. “It’s about a terrorist organization embedding itself in the Western Hemisphere under the protection of a hostile regime.”
As part of a campaign targeting drug trafficking and “narco-terrorist” networks near Venezuela, Washington has significantly ramped up pressure on Maduro’s regime, deploying bombers, warships, and Marines across the Caribbean.
In recent weeks, US President Donald Trump has ordered at least seven strikes on boats believed to be carrying narcotics and has built up thousands of troops in the region.
Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the creation of a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force, saying it was established “to crush the cartels, stop the poison, and keep America safe.”
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Herzog Says Wellbeing of Israelis His Only Concern in Deal With Netanyahu’s ‘Extraordinary’ Pardon Request
Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaks during a press conference with Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics in Riga, Latvia, Aug. 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
i24 News – In an interview with Politico published on Saturday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog remained tight-lipped on whether he intended to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “extraordinary” pardon request, saying that his decision will be motivated by what’s best for Israel.
“There is a process which goes through the Justice Ministry and my legal adviser and so on. This is certainly an extraordinary request and above all when dealing with it I will consider what is the best interest of the Israeli people,” Herzog said. “The well-being of the Israeli people is my first, second and third priority.”
Asked specifically about President Donald Trump’s request, Herzog said “I respect President Trump’s friendship and his opinion,” adding, “Israel, naturally, is a sovereign country.”
Herzog addressed a wide range of topics in the interview, including the US-Israel ties and the shifts in public opinion on Israel.
“One has to remember that the fountains of America, of American life, are based on biblical values, just like ours. And therefore, I believe that the underlying fountain that we all drink from is the same,” he said. “However, I am following very closely the trends that I see in the American public eye and the attitude, especially of young people, on Israel.”
“It comes from TikTok,” he said of the torrent of hostility toward Israel that has engulf swathes of U.S. opinion since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, “from a very shallow discourse of the current situation, pictures or viewpoints, and doesn’t judge from the big picture, which is, is Israel a strategic ally? Yes. Is Israel contributing to American national interests, security interests? Absolutely yes. Is Israel a beacon of democracy in the Middle East? Absolutely yes.”
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Syria’s Sharaa Charges Israel ‘Exports Its Crises to Other Countries’
FILE PHOTO: Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday escalated his messaging against Israel at the Doha forum.
“Israel is working to export its own crises to other countries and escape accountability for the massacres it committed in the Gaza Strip, justifying everything with security concerns,” he said.
“Meanwhile, Syria, since its liberation, has sent positive messages aimed at establishing the foundations of regional stability.
“Israel has responded to Syria with extreme violence, launching over 1,000 airstrikes and carrying out 400 incursions into its territory. The latest of these attacks was the massacre it perpetrated in the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside, which claimed dozens of lives.
“We are working with influential countries worldwide to pressure Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied after December 8, 2014, and all countries support this demand.
“Syria insists on Israel’s adherence to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement. The demand for a demilitarized zone raises many questions. Who will protect this zone if there is no Syrian army presence?
“Any agreement must guarantee Syria’s interests, as it is Syria that is subjected to Israeli attacks. So, who should be demanding a buffer zone and withdrawal?”
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Turkey’s Fidan: Gaza Governance Must Precede Hamas Disarmament in Ceasefire Deal
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. Photo: Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERS
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters on Saturday that not advancing the US-backed Gaza ceasefire plan to its next stage would be a “huge failure” for the world and Washington, noting that President Donald Trump had personally led the push.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, Fidan said a credible Palestinian civil administration and a vetted, trained police force needed to be in place to allow Hamas to disarm, and that the group was prepared to hand over control of the enclave.
“First of all, we need to see that the Palestinian committee of technical people are taking over the administration of Gaza, then we need to see that the police force is being formed to police Gaza – again, by the Palestinians, not Hamas.”
NATO member Turkey has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s assault on Gaza. It played a key role in brokering the ceasefire deal, signing the agreement as a guarantor. It has repeatedly expressed its willingness to join efforts to monitor the accord’s implementation, a move Israel strongly opposes.
Talks to advance the next phase of President Trump’s plan to end the two-year conflict in Gaza are continuing.
The plan envisages an interim technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave, overseen by an international “board of peace” and supported by a multinational security force. Negotiations over the composition and mandate of that force have proven particularly difficult.
Fidan said the Gaza police force would be backed by the international stabilisation force. He added that Washington was pressing Israel over Turkey’s bid to join the force, to which it has voiced readiness to deploy troops if needed.
FIDAN SAYS KURDISH SDF IN SYRIA NOT WILLING TO INTEGRATE
Asked about a landmark deal in March in which the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus agreed that the SDF would be integrated into Syria’s state structures, Fidan said signals from the SDF showed it had “no intention” of honouring the accord, and was instead seeking to sidestep it.
Ankara, which considers the SDF a terrorist organisation, has threatened military action if it does not comply, setting a deadline of the end of the year.
“I think they (SDF) should understand that the command and control should come from one place,” Fidan added. “There can be no two armies in any given country. So there can only be one army, one command structure … But in local administration, they can reach a different settlement and different understandings.”
Almost a year after the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, Fidan said some issues of minority rights were unresolved, insisting that Turkey’s backing of the new Syrian government was not a “blank cheque” to oppress any groups.
He said Damascus was taking steps toward national unity, but that Israeli “destabilisation policies” were the chief obstacle.
Israel has frequently struck southwestern Syria this year, citing threats from militant groups and the need to protect the Druze community near the frontier. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he expected Syria to establish a demilitarised buffer zone from Damascus to the border.
TURKEY: U.S. COULD REMOVE SANCTIONS ‘VERY SOON’
Fidan also said Washington’s initial 28-point plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war was just a “starting point,” and that it was now evolving in a new format. He said mediation by US officials was “on the right path.”
“I just hope that nobody leaves the table and the Americans are not frustrated, because sometimes the mediators can be frustrated if they don’t see enough encouragement from both sides.”
Asked about efforts to lift US sanctions imposed in 2020 over Ankara’s purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems, he said both sides were working on it, adding: “I believe we’ll soon find a way to remove that obstacle.”