The man, who is allegedly carrying $2.5 million in cash directed at Lebanese terrorist groups, was reportedly detained in a bust at Beirut's airport on Friday.
“The detainees and seized funds will be handed over to the investigative unit of the General Security Directorate,” Lebanon's Treasury Ministry said in a statement obtained by Reuters.
“We see signs that the Hezbollah group of terrorists funded by the Islamic Republic is still working to rebuild its potential infrastructure,” UN Ambassador to Israel Danny Danone told Fox News Digital. “This is another attempt by Tehran to destabilise the Middle East. Israel will not hesitate to protect itself from any threats recognized from the North.”
“The $2.5 million seizure is unprecedented,” added David Daoud, a senior fellow at the Democracy Foundation.
“We haven't seen anything like this. Now this tracks the fact that this money is coming in from Turkey, but this is an Israeli claim that Turkey is being used as a conduit to get more funding in Hezbollah,” Daoud told Fox News Digital.
“Plausible, this is one of those things that I've been captured. How many cash transfers are going through the dragite?” he said.
The money carried by individuals was tied up by Hezbollah. Hezbollah has recently been weakened by Israeli forces, sources told Reuters.
There was no immediate response from Hezbollah on Friday.
Since the onset of Israel's war against Hamas, the Israeli Defense Forces had been engaged in cross-border skirmishes with Hezbollah until the ceasefire contract struck late last year, including ground operations on Lebanon's soil.
Hassan Nasrara, a former Hezbollah leader, was killed in Lebanon in September by an Israeli airstrike.
