Iran reportedly smuggling weapons to Hezbollah via Beirut port

An unnamed “Western security source” told Al Arabiya and its Al Hadath sister channel that Hezbollah is using the Port of Beirut to smuggle weapons into Lebanon from Iran. The source told Al Arabiya that Hezbollah “reasserted its control” over Beirut’s port—presumably after the group’s recent war with Israel and the November 27 Israel-Lebanon ceasefire—to facilitate transfers from Iran after Hezbollah lost its Syrian lifeline with the downfall of Bashar al Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024. Hezbollah is also adapting to Lebanon’s relatively tightened controls at Beirut’s Hariri International Airport.

The source said that Unit 190 and Unit 700 of the Quds Force, the external operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), were overseeing these weapons transfers to Hezbollah. The source said these units were smuggling weapons either via direct maritime channels between Iran and Lebanon or by using intermediate countries.

Unit 190, commanded by Behnam Shahariyari, specializes in smuggling weapons to Iran’s proxy militias, including Hezbollah in Lebanon. Shahariyari also runs a network of companies that evade sanctions by packing weapons and materiel in powdered milk, cement, and spare vehicle parts. The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated and sanctioned Shahiyrayari and his companies in 2011 as a Specially Designated National for these weapons-smuggling activities. In 2024, the United Kingdom imposed financial sanctions on Unit 190 for the same reason.

Unit 700, led by Ali Naji Gal Farsat, a former Quds Force official with significant ties in Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, is also involved in weapons smuggling to Hezbollah and the Tehran regime’s other proxies throughout the region. Farsat was reportedly a board member of Qeshm Fars Air, an allegedly defunct airline said to be owned by the IRGC that has smuggled weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon via Hariri International Airport in the past. The United Kingdom has also imposed sanctions on this unit for “conduct which facilitates (or is intended to facilitate) or gives assistance to the planning or conducting of activity which is intended to cause the destabilization of the United Kingdom or any other country.”

On the Lebanese side, the Western security source told Al Arabiya that Wafic Safa, Hezbollah’s top security official, was heading the receiving end of the smuggling operation. Safa, claimed the source, has ensured Hezbollah has total freedom of action at Beirut’s port by recruiting and running a network of collaborators in the port’s customs and inspection authorities. Safa and his recruits, said the source, are facilitating the transfer of weapons and materiel to the group “without any inspection or oversight.”

In 2019, OFAC sanctioned Safa, who it described as “a Hizballah interlocutor to the Lebanese security forces.” The designation noted that Safa, “as the head of Hizballah’s security apparatus […] has exploited Lebanon’s ports and border crossings to smuggle contraband and facilitate travel on behalf of Hizballah.” The designation continues, “Hizballah leveraged Safa to facilitate the passage of items, including illegal drugs and weapons, into the port of Beirut, Lebanon.”

The Lebanese government did not officially comment on Al Arabiya’s report. However, sources within the office of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told Al Jadeed that the premier had “received no foreign intelligence regarding suspicious operations at the port,” while describing the “information regarding weapons smuggling” as “part of ‘numerous rumors.’” Salam also reportedly tasked Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transport Fayez Rasmany to investigate the claims made to Al Arabiya and instructed “the relevant authorities to tighten security controls at the port, especially regarding the entry and exit of drugs.”

The Israelis have also yet to comment on the smuggling operation described in the report. However, on March 4, Israel assassinated Khodr Sayed Hashem in a targeted strike in south Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement following the assassination that described Hashem as “the commander of the Radwan Force’s seaborne forces in Hezbollah” who was “involved in terrorist activity against the State of Israel and its citizens.” Significantly, the IDF noted that, as part of his duties commanding the Radwan Force’s seaborne forces, Hashem helped Hezbollah transfer and procure weapons through “maritime channels.” The IDF also noted that Hashem took part in “planning Hezbollah’s terror attacks by sea against the State of Israel and its citizens, including during the ceasefire.”

The latest report is particularly notable, given the terms of Lebanon’s ceasefire with Israel and the other impacts on Hezbollah’s supply lines, but Hezbollah has long exerted influence over Beirut’s port. The group has used it to transport drugs, weapons, and related material in and out of Lebanon.

David Daoud is Senior Fellow at at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies where he focuses on Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon affairs.