Battle of Lebanon's Illegal Border Crossings: Will Hezbollah or the International Monetary Fund Win?

In the midst of the economic crisis plaguing Lebanon – and with allegations swirling of corruption-fuelled smuggling operations at the highest levels of the country – the Lebanese government has resorted to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to request a bail-out having held a series of negotiations in which the IMF imposed conditions for providing a US$5 billion to US$ billion assistance package.

The conditions include blocking illegal crossings at Lebanese borders – one of the most significant conditions – as well as reducing spending and waste as well as increasing taxes.

According to an informed source, Lebanon's customs losses due to smuggling operations via illegal crossings are estimated at US$600 million annually, while the value of ordinary goods that are smuggled amount to about a billion dollars. But these numbers do not include drugs, weapons, and human smuggling. The lost funds, in addition to smuggled subsidized materials, are supposed to reach the Lebanese people; instead, they go to another country. 

Officials Involved in Smuggling to Syria

Smuggling operations between Lebanon and Syria have been the norm for decades. But their frequency has increased in recent years because of the civil war in Syria, the breakdown of security on the Lebanese-Syrian border and the proliferation of militias on both sides of the border. These issues have increased the influence of smugglers, who have established an organized crime operation that even involve some officials in the security services and government.

B smuggling operations harm the Lebanese economy, create a deficit in public funds and reduce the value of customs and tax imports, IranWire’s informed source said, while also wasting the support provided by the government for goods allocated to internal use. This in turn highlights the disintegration of the state's responsibilities and its inability to hold smugglers accountable. 

The Lebanese government also subsidizes flour and fuel – but these are mostly smuggled into Syria. Government support is only supposed to be for the internal consumption and use of these goods; however, smuggling means that the state actually pays to support gangs that benefit from the price difference between Lebanon and Syria.

When smuggling takes place from Syria into Lebanon, smuggled goods enter the country without the Lebanese state applying customs fees, which constitutes tax evasion, and causes significant losses for the state. 

Hezbollah faces accusations of running smuggled good across the border, protecting smugglers, and facilitating smuggling operations that serve the Syrian regime's economy.

The Hezbollah MP Amin Shiri refused to comment on the issue of controlling crossings when we contacted him. In an interview with IranWire, Al-Wafa Resistance Bloc MP Ali Al-Miqdad denied the accusations against Hezbollah regarding its facilitation of smuggling operations, instead holding the Commander of the Lebanese Army responsible for controlling the border and pointing out that the Lebanese army has been present next to the crossings since before the liberation of Al-Jaroud until today.

Does the Army Commander Control the Border Crossings?

The Lebanese army takes orders from the Commander of the Army, General Joseph 'Aoun, who in turn takes orders from the Lebanese government. If the government does not ask the army to control the crossings, he cannot interfere. And a source in the Lebanese intelligence services has told IranWire that Hezbollah has ordered the government to overlook the smuggling operations that take place through the illegal crossings.

The source revealed that a minister in the current government is running a major fuel smuggling operation between Lebanon and Syria through Bekaa, but that the minister is protected by one of the leaders, and will not be held accountable.

According to the security source, there are 136 illegal crossings along the border shared between Lebanon and Syria, estimated to cover an area of ​​375 km, with each crossing specializing in the smuggling of certain goods, which is run by a group of smugglers.

IMF Insistence on Controlling the Crossings

Charles Jabbour, head of the media agency in the Lebanese Forces Party, believes that the international community is waiting for the government to take practical steps, while the IMF is not prepared to pay money to Lebanon if such funds are going to be wasted. Therefore, the government must take structural steps toward reform. If it is unable to do so, it will not receive the bail-out.  

In an interview with IranWire, Jabbour mentioned the reform conditions that the IMF requires the Lebanese government to adhere to, besides controlling the illegal crossings, include finding a solution to the electricity issues that have plagued Lebanon for decades, as well as customs, port, and communications issues.

He continued, saying: "In general, the resistance party is fed by the crossings. Smuggling operations take place not only from Lebanon to Syria, but also from Latakia to Lebanon, which causes us to doubt the sincerity of Hezbollah's intentions in controlling these crossings."

The bloc of the Lebanese Forces in the Lebanese parliament, through MP Ziyad Hawat, has submitted a report to the Public Prosecutor's Office stating the facts, evidence, and names of all those involved in smuggling operations at illegal crossings. The report provoked Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, in his latest speech, to call on the Lebanese government to control the crossings and to coordinate this with the Syrian government. But this was rejected by the March 14 forces that oppose the Iranian regime and its policy in the region, believing Hezbollah to be attempting to normalize relations with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime and to keep itself afloat after losing its international legitimacy.