By The Jerusalem Post (World News) | Created at 2024-10-29 18:15:05 | Updated at 2024-11-06 04:42:50
1 week ago
A Hezbollah-run campaign fundraising for weaponry called to make money transfers through international and local services, pointing at Western Union and Whish Money as key service providers.
By OHAD MERLIN OCTOBER 29, 2024 18:47
A sign advertises the money transfer service Western Union on January 11, 2018 in Berlin, Germany.
(photo credit: SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES)
Is Western Union taking part in the funding of Hezbollah’s weapon array?
The Jerusalem Post’s investigative journey originates in May, as the Islamic Republic loyalist militia of Hezbollah launched an online fundraising campaign, calling on their supporters to donate money for drones and rockets aimed against Israel.
The campaign, detailed extensively on the Qatari website Al-Araby Al-Jadid (The New Arab), featured a short clip with the slogan “Lift your head high to the sky, and see where your support is,” referring to Hezbollah’s aerial weapon array, sending viewers to contact the Islamic Resistance Support Organization (IRSO; also Islamic Resistance Support Association or IRSA), a group designated as a terror group under US law since 2006, for money transfers and more information.
Notedly, the IRSO owns several accounts in Al-Qard al-Hassan (AQAH), deemed Hezbollah’s financing firm and quasi-banking system and designated by the US in 2007 as Hezbollah’s financial firm, which made headlines over the past couple of weeks following the IDF’s targeting of its institutions as part of the attempt to decimate the terror organization’s funding abilities.
The campaign was promoted on X by Hosein Mortada, a Lebanese writer who led important roles in the Islamic Republic’s media endeavors, including the Al-Alam channel and Syrian state-owned Syrian News Channel, which may reflect even stronger ties to the Islamic Republic loyalist axis.
Sources told the Jerusalem Post that money transfers to this campaign are made possible either through Western Union services or through Whish Money (formerly WOO Cash), a financial services company in Lebanon owned by Syrian nationals, which boasts over 900 branches and agents across the country and focuses on financial solutions both domestically and internationally, including money transfer services, currency exchange, e-wallets, and investments. The sources elaborated that the IRSO has used both Western Union and Whish Money on a frequent basis in the past as well, and not only in relation to this specific campaign.
The campaign led to a man named Mahmoud Ali Al-Haj Hassan, originally from Baalbek, who has several accounts on Hezbollah’s AQAH and who has shown staunch support for the Iranian proxy on his social media accounts. Hassan is apparently the brother of Hussein Ali Alhaj Hassan, a former member of parliament and minister on behalf of Hezbollah, who also has several accounts on Hezbollah’s AQAH. Notedly, the research on the Hassans’ identity and accounts was made through a recently developed Israeli technology system.
It is worth mentioning that Western Union’s role in facilitating the funding of Hezbollah was made public in the past in Israel in 2017, when their services were used as part of the “equip a mujahid” campaign.
Whish: a dubious actor under scrutiny
According to their website, Whish Money cooperates with several companies around the globe, including Mastercard, US-based Ria Money Transfer and Sendwave, UK-based SHIFT TRANSFER, and others.
Several outlets have published exposes and reports regarding Whish Money. One such study by Geneva-based Lebanese investment banker Samara Azzi from 2022 for the Now Lebanon website found that, despite the group’s endorsement by the Bank of Lebanon as a vetted company, it also features some dubious characteristics.
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For instance, the company is owned by a Syrian national, Toufic Adnan Koussa, who was granted Lebanese nationality under Assad-loyalist president of Lebanon, Émile Lahoud. Additionally, the study found that Whish Money managed to bypass banks in Lebanon by offering companies and NGOs a service which allowed them to pay employees their salaries with no fees and in a manner disconnected from the central banking system, after being provided with lists featuring many data points regarding the employees.
Azzi’s expose stressed that an incredible amount of data of workers appear to be collected without any knowledge of who monitors it and for what purposes; also adding that, in order to carry on with a business model involving no fees, the users must be the product, while someone must have “deep pockets.”
According to Azzi’s investigation, workers at the Lebanese Finance Ministry are also involved in providing Whish with a higher priority over the banking system. Witnesses reported that sometimes, upon attempting to pay bills at the local ministry representative, ministry cashiers would make up different excuses and send the citizens to local Whish branches, and then collect a "tip" or "salary" from Whish.
In this context, online users commented that, aside from selling the data collected about employees, the only way that Whish’s model would be profitable is if they needed to show vast amounts of movement of cash in order to launder money on a large scale. Bloggers added that Hezbollah would be the only major player in need of such large-scale money laundering in Lebanon due to sanctions imposed on them.
Whish was also mentioned in a June 2023 report by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy revolving around Hezbollah’s exploitation of the Lebanese economic crisis for its own benefit and growth. The report deemed Whish the fourth major player in Lebanon’s non-regulated cash economy, calling on policymakers to target Whish and its owners based on international money laundering rules, citing their reported ties to Hezbollah’s monetary array.
The same report described Hezbollah as exploiting and profiting from the Lebanese national crisis in addition to building an essentially parallel state and widening its private sector role. According to the report, the crisis in Lebanon brought upon the developing of a cash economy which plays well into Hezbollah’s hands, in a manner which echoes the recent IDF exposes regarding vast amounts of cash stashed under Hezbollah-run institutions in Beirut.
Additionally, the report stressed the role of Al-Qard al-Hassan in taking advantage of billions of dollars from remittances and exchange companies, as well as Iraqi money, which in turn leads to the thriving of the financing group while conventional financial institutions in Lebanon are facing demise and degeneration.
A Western Union spokesperson commented, saying, "We take our regulatory and compliance responsibilities very seriously, including our role in the fight against terrorist financing. To that effect, we have programs in place that screen Western Union transactions against internal and government watchlists. Additionally, our internal Financial Intelligence Unit pursues intelligence leads and analysis in relation to a broad range of global terror groups. We remain committed to working closely with governments and law enforcement authorities to continue addressing terrorist financing activities."
