Stella Gerani, PhD
(PostDoctoral Fellow at the "Davis Institute for International Relations",Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, ISR This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Adjunct Lecturer in International Relations,
International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, GRE
Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 14 May 2026
Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Re-search Institute for European and American Studies
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Turkey, a NATO member since 1952,[NATO Member Countries: https://www.nato.int/en/about-us/organization/nato-member-countries] has emerged as a critical enabler of Lebanese Hezbollah's financial and logistical infrastructure—a role that has deepened markedly since Israel's military campaign severely degraded Hezbollah in 2024 and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria closed traditional overland smuggling routes. This is not a peripheral concern: Turkey's facilitation is documented across five distinct operational vectors—money laundering through front companies, physical cash couriering, airspace and territory used as a transit corridor, active IRGC-Quds Force operations conducted on Turkish soil, and an escalating pattern of high-level political contact between Ankara and Hezbollah-linked figures.... Read more