Exposing Hezbollah: The Nexus of Drug Trafficking and Terrorism

"In 2008, the United States initiated 'Project Cassandra.' The goal was to expose how Hezbollah utilizes drug trafficking and money laundering to fund its military and terrorist activities. This three-part series narrates the project's journey. By 2008, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had amassed enough evidence to demonstrate that Hezbollah had evolved from a military and political organization into an international criminal syndicate. They were generating billions through drug and arms trafficking, money laundering, and other illegal activities. 'Project Cassandra' was a bold, top-secret mission aimed at dismantling this network. On August 4, 2020, Beirut was shattered by an explosion of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the port. Suspicion quickly fell on Hezbollah, a Shiite party and militia with ties to Iran that controls much of Lebanon. Despite mounting pressure from citizens and the global community, Hezbollah (meaning 'the party of God') refused to permit any independent investigation into the explosion's causes. Hezbollah was established in 1982 as a resistance movement against Israeli occupation, with Iranian support from the outset. Over the past 40 years, its fighters have infiltrated all sectors of the Lebanese state, becoming the dominant power in the country. In the mid-2000s, a small group of agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.) sought to dismantle Hezbollah. Operating with utmost secrecy, they launched an investigation under the code name 'Cassandra.' Their mission began in the United States, amid the still-smoking ruins of the World Trade Center."