Qatar maintaining financial support to Hezbollah
New information is emerging to prove that the Qatari regime is financing the Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah.
This
adds Hezbollah, an Iranian arm, to the long list of militant and terrorist
organizations Doha is financing in the region and beyond it.
The
German national weekly, Die Zeit, referred on July 20 to
documents proving Doha's financing to Hezbollah. It said it has proof that
wealthy Qataris and Lebanese nationals living in Doha send money to Hezbollah
through a charity it did not name.
The
newspaper said it received this information and this proof from a contractor
who works in a number of countries, including in Qatar.
The
contractor, it said, handed a file containing information proving Qatar's
financing to Hezbollah over to German authorities.
It
said Qatari authorities tried to get the same file from the contractor for
money.
According
to the file, a Qatari military official had transferred 15,000 Euros to
Hezbollah in March 2019.
The
Qatari government was aware of this money transfer to the Iran-backed movement,
the file says.
Despite
this, it did not penalize this official, meaning that the Qatari government
approved of such a move, it added.
Germany
had designated Hezbollah a "terrorist" organization in April this
year. Other European states are aware of the negative actions of the Lebanese
movement, viewing them as a threat to the security of the European continent.
Qatari deal
Doha's
relations with Hezbollah are strong. In 2013, Qatar paid millions of dollars to
al-Nusra Front, in return for releasing a number of Hezbollah hostages in its
custody. Al-Nusra took these Hezbollah members hostage after it took over
Arsal, an area on the Lebanese-Syrian border.
In April 2017, Qatar hammered a deal with
Hezbollah for the release of a number of Qatari hunters in Iraq. The Qatari
nationals were kidnapped during a hunting trip near the Iraqi-Syrian border in
2016.
Hezbollah
agreed to release the Qataris in return for $2.3 billion, according to Lebanese
media.
