Hezbollah leader under ‘house arrest’ by Iran over missing millions

Iran is tightening the screws on Hassan Nasrallah, according to reports which might be part of a Saudi information campaign against Iran.

By David Jablinowitz, World Israel News

The online version of the Saudi newspaper Al Watan is reporting that Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is under heavy Iranian pressure to explain the disappearance of “tens of millions of dollars” from Hezbollah bank accounts funded by Tehran.

According to the report, Nasrallah is under “house arrest” as the ailing leader of the terror organization receives Iranian medical treatment.

The Hezbollah chief has not been seen in public for many weeks, opening the door to such reports of what has become of him. His periodic disappearance from the public eye in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, is fairly common, with Israeli military sources connecting it to his fears of an Israeli assassination attack. Nasrallah has often been referred to as living a secluded life in a bunker.

The reported accusations of embezzled money are also not new but questions are asked as to whether the allegations are themselves tainted by a Saudi agenda.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are regional rivals.

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In October, the Saudi Gazette reported that Hezbollah militias had kidnapped someone by the name of Akram Saad “under charges of embezzling US$15 million…supervising money laundering operations…from the Hezbollah drug trade.”

The regional intrigue also includes Qatar, which has involved itself not only in the Hezbollah quagmire through alleged drug trading for the benefit of the organization, but also through its controversial financing of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with Israel’s consent.

Al Watan reports, in the name of “observers,” that the “conditions of the organization’s leadership are the worst” since Hezbollah was founded by Iran in Lebanon. The Saudi daily also says that Nasrallah’s disappearance from the public is due directly to the embezzlement allegation.

However, a Lebanese correspondent recently reported that the secretary-general had suffered a heart attack.  Other news outlets said that he had cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. These reports were said to be based on scenes of large Hezbollah forces guarding various hospitals in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.