The Hezbollah cocaine cache crosses the Cartels in Venezuela

The deadly States in the Caribbean strike this week is in experts by experts as the last decision of a wider campaign to dismantle Iran and the growing Narco Empire from Hezbollah to Venezuela.

US officials say Tren de Aragua works in close collaboration with the Cartel des Suns – a Venezuelan network The military elites who have long been accused of having moved cocaine in collaboration with Hezbollah.

The White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital that “President Trump has taken many measures to reduce Iran’s terrorist attorney such as Hezbollah, such as sanctioning senior officials and financial facilitators. The president has proven that he will hold any responsible terrorist group who threatens the national security of our country by the frame of intentional narcotics to intentional narcotics Kill Americans. “

Brian Townsend, a special retired DEA agent, told Fox News Digital: “It was a decisive blow against the narco-terrorists”, and declared The role of Hezbollah is rarely visible but essential, “they do not salize their hands. Instead, they whiten and provide networks to help cartels send money through the Middle East. Simply, they take a drug trade cup, which then finances their operations in the Middle East.”

Hegseth issues a warning to drug traffickers after an American military strike on Venezuelan ships

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro (L) meets the supreme chief of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) in Maduro’s visit to the “Gas Exporting Country Forum” (GECF) in Tehran, Iran, November 23, 2015. (Press Office / Anadolu / Getty Images agency)

Townsend added that Hezbollah has become “a main laundering and money laundering for narco-terrorism groups like Tren of Aragua”, guaranteeing that when cocaine moves, Hezbollah facilitators often deal with at least part of the product.

Dani Citrinowicz, the main member of the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies, said the scope of Hezbollah depends strongly on the Lebanese diaspora in the region. “Most of the Shiite diaspora, at least in Central and South America, is Lebanese,” he told Fox News Digital. “Hezbollah is the connector between the diaspora and Iran.”

Citrinowicz said the group uses family ties, language and community institutions to consolidate its influence across Latin America. “They call imams, finance religious centers and control educational programs … Through these networks, Hezbollah can interact with local cartels, sell drugs and channel profits in Lebanon thanks to developed programs.”

He said that this role as a connector makes Hezbollah essential Iran strategy in the Western hemisphere. “The connection begins and ends with enmity towards the West in general, especially for the United States,” he said. “As long as Maduro is there, the Iranians are there. But if Maduro leaves, Iran will lose the most important bastion of its activity in Latin America.”

The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, heads the celebration of the 22nd anniversary of the return to power of the deceased president Hugo Chavez after an attempted coup failed in 2002, in Caracas, Venezuela on April 13, 2024. (Reuters / Leonardo Fernandez Viloria / Photo file)

Maduro claims that the United States was looking for a “regime change by military threat” in the middle of the Caribbean accumulation

Townsend said the partnership is working for both parties. “The Iranian partnership with Maduro allows Hezbollah to operate in Venezuela. Iran can operate safely, through Hezbollah, in the West without pursuit, and Maduro and its officials are well paid. In the end.Iran uses and operates Maduro. Maduro does not care – He and his friends benefit financially. “”

The two experts underlined the complicity of state as a key facilitator. “Under Maduro and Chávez, Venezuela has become a major transhipment center for Colombian cocaine,” said Townsend. “There have been several accusation acts in the American designations and the Treasury of the OFAC which directly equalize senior government officials to use state infrastructure – ports, air bases, even military convoys – to move massive cocaine expeditions. Cartel des Suns, high -level military officers, direct and protect these expeditions. Hezbollah. “

Hezbollah members salute and raise the yellow flags of the group during the funeral of their fellows ISMAY BAZ and Mohamad Hussein Shohury, who were killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicles, in Shehabiya in southern Lebanon on April 17, 2024. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by – / AFP via Getty (AFP via Getty Images)

Citrinowicz underlined Iran’s investment in Venezuelan power structures. “Improvement is illustrated by several aspects: above all, military cooperation, in particular Iranian factories which build drones for the Venezuelan army, and the constant QDs oblige Iran flights from Africa to Venezuela,” he said. “Iran also teaches Venezuela how to get around the sanctions and has invested billions in the economy.”

Experts say that Washington’s best lever effect lies in the suffocation of finances. “We must target and suffocate these financial networks,” said Townsend. “The priority is to attack the financial and logistical networks, to indicate all those that we can and to put pressure on Maduro. If we can cut the financial arteries, cocaine will not be as profitable.”

Citrinowicz has agreed that the strike is part of a wider effort. “By weakening Maduro, the United States weaken the Iranian presence Latin America And weakens Iran’s ability to threaten American soil, “he said.” The best way to weaken Venezuela is also to aim for the Iranian presence there. “”

Iranian worshipers hold their hands as signs of unity with the supreme chief of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during an anti-Israeli rally to condemn Israel’s attacks against Iran, downtown Tehran, Iran, June 20, 2025. (Morteza Nikoubazl / Nurphoto via Getty Images)

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For Washington, experts say that the Hezbollah drug empire in Venezuela is no longer just a regional problem. He is increasingly treated as a direct threat to America’s safety at home.