HEZBOLLAH INC. The DEA's Top Secret Plan to Stop Them // Documentary (Part III)

[Music] [Applause] Allah [Applause] cont Iran at first isn't so happy about it but when the message comes from the office supreme leader that's the end of the conversation and they go for it's complet completely a new hisbah because it's a regular army with surfaced air missiles and units well they become a real military project Cassandra identified a component known as the business Affairs component their primary role was to establish the drug trafficking operations to generate the the revenue they had the conflict in Syria they had to have the money we had a really successful 2014 against the hesel culminate over the course of 3 weeks of a season over 8 tons of cocaine out of the port and Rotterdam suddenly Hezbollah is not resisting Israel it's just butchering fellow Muslims Suddenly It's evolved in a deeply sectarian conflict these people are like the mafia like the guys who sit around the table with Tony [Music] Soprano [Applause] as of 2010 France became the favored Asylum of Hezbollah operatives it provided several advantages a large Lebanese community that reduced their visibility and freedom of movement throughout [Music] Europe Paris was chosen as the beach head to launder Drug [Music] Money the US Drug Enforcement Administration alerted the French police together they opened a new chapter in operation Cassandra known as operation Ceda after the national symbol of Lebanon operation Ceda was a spin-off investigation Under the Umbrella of project Cassandra operation Ceda focused on the European Network the leaders of now our operations in Europe is is really Captain mug and his team Che [Music] so really I think within 24 hours they identify that phone as belonging to Muhammad nural for cash certain stat collect [Music] for The Collector s [Music] for don't he was a guy who was trusted to move very large amounts of money and oversea Couriers who were carrying back money sometimes just in Samson nights on you know planes flying out of sh the gall back to Beirut you know Air France Lally these guys carry these Samson nightes with millions of dollar you know couple million dollars in each Samsonite in cash cash not it wasn't always like that but sometimes it was that ridiculous um he was a super facilitator from drug M make his way from York back to Lebanon No Doubt [Music] France appears in some ways to be their command and control center for their activities in the rest of Europe while the French police traced Muhammad nadin's Network operation Cassandra's American agents tracked the laundered money in Lebanon it led them to Eastern Europe in the footsteps of arms [Music] traffickers the former socialist republics were full of armaments inherited from the Soviet Union and among the gun dealers the DEA targeted the key man in the traffic a Lebanese citizen who had opened doors in Ukraine and Russia the agents call me up and they go hey have you ever heard of this uh Ali fed guy and I go have I ever heard of Ali fed yeah the GU the guy's really really significant he's moving weapons for Iran and hezb into the Middle East Ali Fed was a well-known well-documented arms dealer who was working with Russians and Ukrainian arms dealers to provide hez weapons right and these guys you know they were going to provide you know RPGs AK rifles surface to air missiles they had access to the most sophisticated weapon systems in the [Music] world once you get the charges against a guy like fed you have to figure out what country can we arrest them and that country also has to have an extradition treaty with the United States and uh we identified Prague in in the uh Czech Republic we infiltrated the network with our informant who portrayed themselves as members of the Faulk in Colombia that needed weapons to kill Americans and of course Ali fed and his conspirators were looking to get cocaine also so we had a cocaine for weapons deal so the operational plan was to do the arrest as he exited the room in the hallway of the hotel so the room was wired up for uh video and audio and then at one point one of the sources says you know we want anti-aircraft missiles to kill Americans in Colombia and then after we kill these Americans I'll I'll cut off one of the Americans heads and and I will present it to you Ali fed as a present and Ali fed jumped up from the couch and went over and hugged the undercover Al if we get this guy to the states then he's going to be maybe our main witness to take out hz's drug cartel there's only one thing that could get in the way of uh of his extradition is if Czech Military Intelligence gets involved Military Intelligence is very much Under the Influence still of of Russia and Putin and that could cause a major problem in the extradition of fire the arrest of Ali fiad was the biggest success of the American anti-drug agency the Arms Dealer knew all the secrets of the war in Syria he was at the heart of the military Alliance concluded between Hezbollah Iran and Russia to save Bashar [Music] al-assad but the DEA was stepping into a Minefield the criminal networks of the party of God were protected by Moscow the longer the War lasted the more IND dispensible Hezbollah Fighters became and the more their need for weapons increased the price to pay for this headlong Rush was counted in the number of coffins that returned to Lebanon when the first hisbah Fighters were killed a cemetery opened for the so-called maras who were falling in Syria [Music] for [Music] e for for [Music] [Music] mamad uh uh [Music] for a part of the mothers who were crying over their sons I mean uh I'm sure they were convinced but I also believe that others must have doubts how far indoctrination can go but from history we also know it can go very far [Music] for Hezbollah should know that Iran will fight to the last Hezbollah member you know look what happened in Syria all the hbel members died how many Iranians died not many what did they get in return not much they come back to their bankrupt economy bankrupt banking system their ports explodes I mean it's like Dante's gates of hell you know but we could go further down the uh cycle you know there's more gates that we can approach here in the [Music] future the war in Syria was profoundly changing the image of Hezbollah among many Lebanese yesterday considered as Heroes the fighters lost their Aura of resistance Fighters and were perceived as an army of mercenaries party leaders also changed in their telephone tapping the French and American investigators heard only about drugs weapons and money just like in the mafia 69 on ital Etc [Music] we found out that the the cocaine proceeds that Nur Aline was coordinating at that time was the main funding mechanism to provide financial support to hezbollah's purchase of arms out of Eastern Europe and Russia to send to Syria basically after 8 years of Investigations the operation Cassandra agents reached their goal they discovered a secret organization within Hezbollah in charge of coordinating funding for the war in Syria and more broadly all the clandestine military operations led by the party we were receiving information about this shadowy group within hezb and we'd hear things like oh they're called the financial unit um they're called the uh the the the banking unit Jack Kelly and the team in Project Cassandra identified a component known as the business Affairs component so we started like putting together the pieces of the puzzle using all the experts that we had in the US government what's going on here how do you connect all these dots you know it's like trying to solve a mystery and remember we have to provide evidence basically the business Affairs components had different things they want to do they want to move cocaine they want to lawter money they want to sell or buy [Music] weapons this business of feris compon got hundreds of companies and we mapped out we know where those companies are they're all over the world so even some of the United States it functioned as this uh funnel to control all these secret bank accounts all over Lebanon and all over the world actually Switzerland lonstein Luxembourg [Music] Paris business Affairs component makes probably over a billion dollars a year in uh criminal proceeds we have that backed up by records that we got out of lean came Bank this is the financing of Terror we found out that the the cocaine proceeds that Nur Alan was coordinating was under the leadership uh directly of Adam tabaja Adam tabaja was one of the main guys involved with the business Affairs [Music] component no is one of the lead financers of the rebuilding of uh hezb neighborhoods and infrastructure in Lebanon after the 2006 war and who's the guy who's the money Master for them well doas safel Den we'll call them the financial Godfather certainly the business Godfather Abdullah safien was hezbollah's Ambassador to Iran obviously Abdullah safine had connections in very high levels of the Iranian government what Tran needs hezb to do abdalah safel then runs it his clan is basically hasel [Music] royalty abdalah Safi has a brother who's the executive director of Hezbollah and there's rumors that he would be a successor to nazala once you get to their level you're above being a Hezbollah member I mean I know that sounds strange because people are lit see where's their membership card I'm like they don't need a membership card you know when they someone sees their face they're like come right on in you know I [Music] mean so when you find as us investigators did Abdullah safadin involved in elicit Financial activities from Iraq to South America to Europe coming up over and over again like that gets your attention it appeared viable that we could actually make a case against abdal Safi Alin and perhaps arrest him we we could do this if people let us do that operation Cassandra was approaching its moment of truth if us investigators got the green light to arrest abdalah safadin they would be able to decapitate the hidden leadership of Hezbollah at the same time they were hearing a new tune the United States was starting negotiations on nuclear power with the Islamic Republic of Iran yet Iran was hezbollah's historical sponsor philosophically project Cassandra became a problem um our actions became a problem very good and productive but still we have lots of work to do tomor prod tomorrow we will [Music] continue Iranians started to complain about it in the talks I've heard this from people over there they complain they said these DEA people are pest you should control them they they they're out of control that's usually what you do want to shut somebody down today after two years of negotiations the United States together with our International Partners has achieved something that Decades of animosity has not a comprehensive long-term deal with Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon this deal demonstrates that American diplomacy can bring about real and meaningful change change that makes our country and the world safer and more secure Barack Obama chose to signed peace with tan an agreement hailed by the International [Music] Community the ink was barely dry when the Iranian president began a triumphant tour of Europe and stopped in Paris after the Dirty War of the 80s he came to celebrate the return of business the same day special agent Jack Kelly landed in Paris to celebrate the dismantling of Muhammad nadin's money laundering [Music] Network an official ceremony was organized at the French police headquarters the DEA was about to reveal the existence of the corporate Affairs Bureau a secret organization within Hezbollah it it was going to be what I really thought was a fitting end to Cassandra the top French law enforcement official was going to um give us a champagne toast as a success for this this incredible um operation Cedar under project Cassandra so I'm there for that and then um I'm kind of looking at the judge and the prosecutors and the cops and it's like what's going on they're mentioning yeah we think the the press conference definitely was cancelled but and the press release was [Music] postponed [Applause] I'm watching it on TV at the bar of uh the truckadero uh hotel and I'm getting these calls and text messages saying yeah everything's cancelled that was a horrible day I just I couldn't believe [Music] you [Music] right at the same time I'm getting information that either Ali fed had been released from the Czech Republic to [Music] Lebanon Ali fed he went back to Lebanon we never got him in America the US government system failed there was no engagement so how do you explain that I know what my investigative gut feeling is telling me he was a member of Hezbollah and they were in the middle of a Iran deal that's my opinion I don't have the Smoking Gun but I have an opinion I've been doing this a long time I think the entire project Cassandra scared many people around the world it has been sacrifice for [Music] politics you [Music] see when I met Ash 8 he told me really from the beginning Jack I want to tell you right now ultimately I can guarantee you that somewhere along the way the White House whoever's White House it is is going to shut us down because if we get to where I think we're going to get it's going to be too much for some people and that's exactly what happened to me and his prediction was true you know I told Jack the higher up you go the more people know the more they're going to want to stop this right when we were in the jaws of victory victory was snatched from us and I also knew at right at the same time that I just been transferred via memo out of Special Operations Division off of project Asser to a desk job at headquarters so I decided to um go to my favorite Cafe and uh drink red [Music] wine Hezbollah had won operation Cassandra led by the American anti-drug agency was buried sacrificed on the altar of RA politi the United States had favored the hope of peace with Iran rather than the dismantling of the Hidden face of Hezbollah Cassandra was part of Greek mythologies that she was warning leaders of of impending catastrophes and disasters and her warnings would always get ignored and then the disasters and catastrophes would eventually happen so Cassandra was always right but nobody paid attention to her and they would dismiss her and they were skeptical what if operation Cassandra sounded like the final warning the missed opportunity to end the impunity of the party of God until August the 4th 2020 the day of the explosion of the port of beut the ground zero of the [Applause] Lebanese in the aftermath of the catastrophe the people turned against their leaders especially against the all powerful historic leader of Hezbollah Hassan nashrah the Lebanese demanded truth and justice for once substance this hunger was controlled by the hisbah this everybody knows as well as the airport is controlled by hisb oh my God oh my God [Music] 215 dead 6,500 injured the day after the explosion barut was scarred and [Music] devastated but barut was also angry who was responsible for this catastrophe the official story is short and simple there is a ship that came from Georgia to Lebanon it was supposed to carry on to mozambik but it couldn't make it so they removed the ammonium nitrate and they kept it in the warehouse this is the story the official story ammonium nitrate is usually uh used either as a fertilizer or as an explosive you know the shipment that came to Lebanon it was clear even on the backs that it was high density it was written on the backs so it was meant to be used as an [Music] explosive [Music] so this shipment stayed in the port for 7 years unfortunately everybody knew about it but nobody took any action what I discovered during my investigations is first of all that savaro was the company that in the beginning appeared to be the owner of the ammonium nitrate this company is kind of a shell company which means it's a company where you don't know the real owner later on I discovered that there are many links between savaro and Syrian businessman MRI and imri his brother and George hasani [Music] George Hass met several times Syrian president and and had several companies and factories in Syria and in Russia uh in those two countries it's not easy to reach the level where those guys reached in their business and in their wealth without being close to those in power whether in Syria or in Russia most probably this shipment was meant to reach in one way or another Syria in the time when the war was at its [Applause] [Music] peak [Music] studies done by the FBI actually said that the according to the calculations they had done what exploded in the port of Beirut was somewhere between 500 to 700 tons of ammonium nitrates if you I don't want to get involved in anything political I hinted for POS Lings okay I was not killed at least until now also hinted lman made his PO responsible for transporting the ammonium nitrat to Syria yeah he was putting the puzzle together today everybody is saying it in January lman was the first to say it contr do you know how lman was killed yes but I cannot yes he was killed by six shots it seems they have been very professional hello happy to see [Music] you I came several time [Music] but I want Justice and I need to know who did it who planned it and who gave the order with the port explosion and the execution of lman there is something which is broken no you cannot go back to normal life you cannot go back and let the political game win no we need for both we need accountability [Music] will we ever know the truth behind the barut port explosion two Lebanese magistrates tried to investigate they were threatened and their inquiries suspended as for Hezbollah in spite of popular protest it opposes any International inquiry whether the Lebanese be people will be able to know the complete truth I [Music] doubt don't even try it'll never happen you'll be long in the grave centuries from now and there will not be an answer to [Applause] it [Applause] areos [Applause] mcon put it well so long as Hezbollah continues to engage in international terrorism acts of assassination in Lebanon illicit Financial activity undermining the stability of the Lebanese Financial system so long as hasb engages in all those activities it is an outlaw actor and needs to be treated as such is history doomed to repeat itself is the Divine impunity of hezbollah's leaders really Eternal 40 years ago it dreamed of imposing Sharia Islamic law in Lebanon instead it created a state within the state Hezbollah land more powerful than the official state and SED the country in a Black Veil The tastes of Ashes we are living here in Lebanon in a culture of impunity you can kill you can commit massacres you can commit crimes you can do whatever you want in the end nothing is happening what happened to Chi harb he's out of jail I know he was in South America and I think he uh might have went back to Lebanon but I'm not sure Aman Juma he's never been caught so he's in he's in Lebanon I'm sure he travels to other places we just don't hear about it Ali karui Ali Kobi I don't think uh never arrested not jailed Ali fed Ali fed he's certainly not in jail Adam taba Adam tabaja not in jail never indicted never captured never arrested uh still the hezbo ambassador to Teran as far as I know

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Length: 52min 3sec (3123 seconds)

Published: Thu May 23 2024