Iran gives Hezbollah $700m a year, is ‘driving force’ of current escalation

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Iran is the “driving force” of a recent multi-front escalation, while detailing the funding the Islamic Republic provides to its proxies across the region.

Gallant says Iran funds the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon with $700 million a year, as well as “knowledge and strategic weaponry” such as precision-guided munitions.

The Hamas terror group that rules the Gaza Strip is funded by Iran with $100 million annually, with additional funding worth tens of millions of dollars going to the second largest terror group in the Palestinian enclave, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gallant says.

In Syria, hundreds of millions of dollars are sent to Iranian-backed militias each year, and the Syrian regime led by dictator Bashar Assad receives billions of dollars from Iran, he adds.

Gallant says Iran-backed militias in Iraq receive funding worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year as well as weaponry; and in Yemen, the Houthi rebel group is funded by Iran with hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

“The increasing dependence [of the proxies] on Iran leads them to step over the boundaries and become more brazen,” Gallant says to reporters.

Meanwhile, the defense establishment denies there is a link between a US-backed maritime border demarcation deal with Lebanon and the recent escalation, as had been suggested by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Source: timesofisrael