Efforts are underway on several parallel tracks to tighten financial, legal, and military pressure on Hezbollah, as U.S. and Israeli demands have intensified during the latest round of negotiations in Rome, Lebanese sources familiar with the latest developments told Erem News.

The sources said Washington has increasingly focused on cutting off the group’s financial lifelines and pursuing its economic networks, particularly institutions such as Al-Qard Al-Hasan and Bayt al-Mal, while seeking a review of the legal frameworks that have allowed Hezbollah-linked organizations to operate for years outside the state’s full financial oversight.

According to the sources, the United States believes that any lasting arrangement in southern Lebanon cannot be achieved solely through addressing Hezbollah’s weapons arsenal. Instead, it must also involve dismantling the financial and legal infrastructure that has allowed the group to recover and rebuild after previous confrontations.

That approach has pushed Hezbollah’s financial system to the forefront of recent discussions in Rome, alongside other key issues, including the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and future security arrangements.

For years, international pressure has largely focused on the group’s military capabilities, including its missiles, weapons depots, tunnels, and armed units. But officials and Western policymakers now increasingly view Hezbollah’s financial ecosystem as a central pillar of its power, arguing that the group can compensate for military losses as long as its funding channels remain intact.

In recent months, the U.S. Treasury Department has expanded sanctions targeting individuals and entities it says form key components of Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure.

Among the main targets have been Al-Qard Al-Hasan and Bayt al-Mal, which Washington accuses of serving as important elements of the group’s financial network.

The United States has also imposed sanctions on networks and companies linked to the gold trade, alleging that some of these entities were used to convert assets into liquid funds that could support Hezbollah’s activities and help bypass international financial restrictions.

Al-Qard Al-Hasan at the center of the dispute

Al-Qard Al-Hasan has emerged as one of the most sensitive issues in the growing financial pressure campaign.

The organization, established in 1987 and operating under a legal notification as a social association, gradually expanded beyond traditional charitable activities. Over time, it developed services including loans, pawn operations, and savings programs, eventually managing significant financial resources outside Lebanon’s conventional banking sector.

This expansion has made it a target of criticism from the United States, which argues that the association performs functions similar to those of a financial institution while remaining outside the regulatory framework applied to banks.

However, Lebanese sources said the current discussions are not centered on a political decision to shut down Al-Qard Al-Hasan.

Instead, they said the debate focuses on bringing the association — and other organizations engaged in similar financial activities — under the same laws and oversight mechanisms that govern Lebanon’s financial sector.

Such measures would include licensing requirements, regulatory supervision, and financial disclosure obligations.

Washington, according to the sources, believes that allowing large financial entities to operate without full oversight creates channels through which funds can move with limited transparency and gives Hezbollah significant flexibility in managing its resources outside the official financial system.

Tightening financial laws and monitoring networks

The sources said U.S. demands are not aimed at creating legislation specifically targeting Hezbollah by name, but rather at enforcing and strengthening existing laws governing financial associations and institutions.

The measures under discussion include stricter implementation of anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing regulations, tighter monitoring of exchange companies, money-transfer networks, and electronic payment platforms.

The gold trade has also attracted increased attention, following U.S. reports alleging that front companies linked to Hezbollah used gold transactions to convert reserves into cash amid restrictions on Lebanon’s banking system and international sanctions.

The sources said stronger enforcement of these regulations would significantly narrow the operating space available to financial networks functioning outside official state structures.

Such restrictions, they added, could directly affect Hezbollah’s ability to manage its finances and sustain its network of institutions in the coming period.

A struggle over influence, not only weapons

Lebanese sources said the nature of the confrontation has changed significantly.

Rather than focusing only on weapons depots, military commanders, or battlefield capabilities, the current effort aims to weaken Hezbollah’s ability to finance its operations, maintain its institutions, and preserve the network of social services that has long been a key source of its influence among its supporters.

According to the sources, this strategy has become an essential part of the U.S. vision for any future settlement in Lebanon.

The issue is no longer limited to removing missiles or preventing armed deployments near the border. It now extends to dismantling the broader financial and legal system that has allowed Hezbollah, over decades, to build a parallel economy and a network of institutions operating alongside the Lebanese state.