Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun at the presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, on July 30, 2026. Photo released by the Turkish presidential press office/Reuters
What is Turkey playing at? On Aug. 20, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against 10 individuals, including several Turks, who it said formed a courier network that transported hundreds of millions of dollars in cash to Hezbollah via commercial flights between Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon. While this round of sanctions does not necessarily prove that Turkey is involved in sending funds to Hezbollah, analyses and speculation about a possible relationship between the two are rife — especially with the current geopolitical context.However, there is no evidence that Ankara directly finances or arms Hezbollah. Even the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a pro-Israeli American think tank, acknowledges this. The funds that reached Hezbollah, however, seem to have passed through Turkish financial networks...
What is Turkey playing at? On Aug. 20, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against 10 individuals, including several Turks, who it said formed a courier network that transported hundreds of millions of dollars in cash to Hezbollah via commercial flights between Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon. While this round of sanctions does not necessarily prove that Turkey is involved in sending funds to Hezbollah, analyses and speculation about a possible relationship between the two are rife — especially with the current geopolitical context.However, there is no evidence that Ankara directly finances or arms Hezbollah. Even the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a pro-Israeli American think tank, acknowledges this. The funds that reached Hezbollah, however, seem to have passed through Turkish financial...
