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Hizballah - Unit 4400 / Wahda 4400

Unit 4400 is an elite unit in Hezbollah and was founded by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah during the war in Syria, meaning that it is many years old, with the aim of transferring elements and technology for the production of drones that are being produced far from Lebanon. This unit is also tasked with smuggling "dangerous" weapons to Hezbollah directly from the Iranian Quds Force. The unit operates on Syrian territory and had previously been subjected to Israeli attacks targeting its sites.

Although Tel Aviv does not speak publicly about this unit, its intelligence circles have leaked information about it to Arab and Israeli media, in doses, over the years, whenever Israeli events or attacks occurred in Syria that required mentioning the name, such as the recent attack. Al-Modon’s review of Israeli media coverage in 2018 and 2019 and beyond revealed that this group was given another name, namely “Unit 108,” in addition to the name “Smuggling Unit.”

Here, the question arises: Why did the name change? In fact, there is no clear answer. Perhaps it is related to what the Hebrew media published three years ago, and then Israeli tweets on Twitter came back to remind us of it, which is the claim that Tel Aviv revealed the unit in 2018. The difference in name raises the question of whether this is evidence of changes in the structure of the unit and its mechanism of operation, as a necessary security measure by Hezbollah, after the Israeli claim to have exposed Unit 108.

However, the Israeli intelligence page "Intelli Times" on Twitter considered, in its tweet, that if the news about the recent Israeli attack is accurate, then Unit 4400 is the same one known as No. 108, as its work and commander are known, but the only new thing is the unit number. The intelligence website claimed that Hezbollah tends to return to previous unit numbers such as 1800, 2800, 3800, depending on the geographical arena.

A surprise public appearance by “Hajj Fadi” came at the end of February 2019, during Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s visit to Tehran and his meeting with former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, which prompted Israeli intelligence to leak information about him to military analyst Yoav Limor to publish it in the newspaper “Israel Today” as part of an extensive report on “the shadow man and the difficult tasks” in Hezbollah, considering that he “has been in charge of smuggling for 23 years.”

Israeli analysts said that Unit 4400 possesses a mechanism through which advanced combat equipment is transferred to Hezbollah, which led the security authorities in Israel to acknowledge that the success in preventing the transfer of weapons did not exceed 70%, which means that there are many operations in which the unit has succeeded. In 2017, the intelligence website "Intelli Times" published what it called an exposé about the aforementioned unit, stating that "the unit's commander is responsible for smuggling Iranian missiles from Syria to Lebanon." But the name of the unit and its commander return this time through the gate of drones, more than missiles and other types of weapons, while Iranian drones are at the forefront of Western talk due to Tehran being accused of supplying them to Russia for use in the Ukrainian war.

Israeli intelligence estimated the number of members of the unit led by "Hajj Fadi" to be in the dozens, as it is responsible for transporting military equipment to Lebanon, not fighting. Hebrew media reported that one of "Hajj Fadi's" brothers is the son-in-law of Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, to indicate the reliability of the relationship. "Hajj Fadi" is the nom de guerre of Hezbollah leader Muhammad Jaafar Qasir (55 years old) (a.k.a. KASSIR, Mohammed Jaafar; a.k.a. QASIR, Muhammad Jafar; a.k.a. "EYNAKI"; a.k.a. "FADI"; a.k.a. "GHOLI, Hossein"; a.k.a. "MAJID"; a.k.a. "SALAH, Shaykh"), who has been designated by the United States as a terrorist for years, accused of transporting weapons across the Syrian-Lebanese border, and also transferring money to Hezbollah, according to the US Treasury Department.

On 15 May 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on the Governor and a senior official of the Central Bank of Iran, an Iraq-based bank and its chairman, and a key Hizballah official, all of whom have moved millions of dollars on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) to Hizballah. They were designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. OFAC is designating Muhammad Qasir (Qasir) for acting for or on behalf of Hizballah. Qasir acted as a critical conduit for financial disbursements from the IRGC-QF to Hizballah. Qasir has worked with the IRGC-QF to transfer funds.

Qasir was subject to secondary sanctions pursuant to the Hizballah Financial Sanctions Regulations, which implements the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015. Pursuant to this authority, OFAC can prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account by a foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction for Hizballah, or a person acting on behalf of or at the direction of, or owned or controlled by, Hizballah.

On 01 October 2024, Israeli air strikes targeted the outskirts of Beirut's southern suburbs. The first was concentrated in the Bir Hassan area near Beirut International Airport Road, while the other targeted the Janah area and hit a building near Al-Zahraa University Hospital. The Israeli army initially announced that it had targeted Beirut with a precision strike without providing any details, and later said in a statement that it had targeted Muhammad Jaafar Qasir.

The fighter jets of the Air Force, under the precise intelligence guidance of the Intelligence Division, eliminated the terrorist Muhammad Jafar Katzir, the commander of the unit for the transfer of weapons from Iran and its affiliates to Hezbollah in Lebanon (Unit 4400). The terrorist Katzir was one of Hezbollah's senior officials and the most dominant elements in the Iran-Hezbollah-Syria terrorist axis, and is considered close to the Iranian regime.

He led and directed hundreds of operations to transfer strategic weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Among other things, he promoted Hezbollah's precision missile project, and the development of Hezbollah's fire capabilities, which are intended to hit the Israeli rear and various targets in the State of Israel. He served as the commander of unit 4400 for about 15 years. In recent years, he was responsible for the field of financing in Hezbollah, and leading economic initiatives to obtain funding for the organization's terrorist activities, such as economic projects in Lebanon and Syria, financial infrastructures and businessmen around the world. In addition, he was responsible for the transfers and transportation of funds from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon, worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

On 21 October 2024, the Israeli military said it had killed in Syria what it described as a "senior Hezbollah commander" who was "responsible for a large part of the party's financing operations." Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari did not name the dead man but described him as "the commander of Unit 4400, which is responsible for financial transfers to Hezbollah" that are derived in particular from the sale of Iranian oil. The spokesman explained that Unit 4400 was previously led by Muhammad Jaafar Qasir, who was nicknamed Sheikh Salah and who "managed the organization's main source of income for years."

In a new escalation, the Israeli army announced that it had struck 300 Hezbollah targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut within 24 hours, including 30 targets related to the party’s financial arm, in addition to liquidating the transfers official in the strike on the Syrian capital, Damascus. Although the name of the dead man was not officially announced, Hezbollah loyalists mourned on the X platform the leader "Ali Hassan Gharib" nicknamed "Hajj Ayman", and said that he was killed in Syria, amid information that the commander of "Unit 4400" who was killed in Damascus was accompanied by 2 others without revealing their identities, while the Assad regime claimed that the targets were civilians.

The Ministry of Defense in the Assad government said that an "air aggression" targeted a "civilian car" in the residential neighborhood of Mezzeh in Damascus, which led to the killing of "two civilians and the injury of three others" and material damage, according to it. Media outlets affiliated with the Assad regime published footage of the aftermath of the airstrike, showing a number of Syrian military officers standing near a completely charred car. It also showed some damage to the Golden Mezzeh Hotel building near the car.

One of Nasrallah's bunkers, which was used as a central money warehouse for Hezbollah, was built under the 'Al-Sahal' hospital. This bunker is deliberately placed under the hospital, and on both sides of it you can see the 'Al-Ahmadi' building and the 'Al-Sahel' center building, under which are the entrance shafts to the bunker. Here you can see the bunker in an illustrative way, which includes rooms, beds and infrastructure for a long stay and conducting combat underground. According to the estimates we have, inside this bunker are stored at least, at least half a billion dollars, in dollar bills and gold. This money could, and still can, go to rebuilding the state of Lebanon.

The underground money warehouse used by the "Al-Karch Al-Hassan" association was located under a residential building in Beirut. In the association's treasury, there was a stockpile of cash and gold worth tens of millions of dollars, the purpose of which was to finance Hezbollah, among other things, for the expenses of the war and for its recovery the day after.

In recent years, the state of Lebanon has been in a deep economic crisis that worsened following the explosion caused by Hezbollah in the port of Beirut in 2020. Hezbollah took advantage of this crisis to strengthen its foothold and position in the state of Lebanon. Hezbollah created a parallel and separate economic network from the legal and legitimate economic system of the Lebanese state, designed for the needs of its military arm. Hezbollah has raised hundreds of millions of dollars under the auspices of civil institutions, the most prominent of which is the "Al-Karch Al-Hassan" association.

The United States and Western countries have imposed heavy sanctions on this association, because it directly finances terrorist activity, which is also a flagrant violation of international law. On the recommendation of the Chief of Staff and the head of the Shin Bet, today the Minister of Defense signed a decree adding the "Al-Karch Al Hassan" association to the list of declared terrorist organizations of the State of Israel.

The organizations we attacked are entities that sit under the terrorist organization Hezbollah, contribute to its military activities and impersonate civilian organizations, when in practice their only purpose is to strengthen the organization's terrorist capabilities. This is how Hezbollah actually created a "state within a state", when it makes use of civil institutions, supposedly legitimate associations and associations, for the benefit of transferring terrorist funds.

Hezbollah's economic structure is based on two main sources - the pockets of Lebanese citizens and Iran's smuggling route to Lebanon. Iran transfered money to Hezbollah in three main ways. One, through the transfer of oil and money from Iran to Syria. The oil is sold in Syria to various companies, and it is transported through Hezbollah's transfer unit, unit 4400, to the territory of Lebanon and into the pocket of the terrorist organization. It is about tens of millions of dollars.

Second, Iran flies money to Lebanon under diplomatic cover, the same money that comes from the Quds Force's independent oil sales directly to the Iranian embassy in Beirut, and from there to Hezbollah. And finally, Hezbollah is promoting additional economic initiatives sponsored by Iran - including exporting gas to Syria and establishing factories in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Turkey. This axis was managed by Muhammad Jaafar Katzir or as he is called Sheikh Salah, the commander of Unit 4400 in Hezbollah, which is responsible for transfers and the director of finances for Hezbollah.

Another major economic source for Hezbollah is the citizens of Lebanon. Hezbollah uses the civil institutions of the state, and especially its association, the "Al-Karch Al-Hassan" Association - and through its formations, Hezbollah takes money from the citizens of Lebanon. In a different reality, this money would have been used to rebuild the state of Lebanon and not for the production of missiles.

On 14 October 2024, Israel bombed the Masnaa border area in eastern Lebanon, cutting off the main border crossing with Syria, after tens of thousands of Lebanese and Syrian refugees had taken it to escape Israeli raids on Lebanon.

Lebanese Public Works Minister Ali Hamieh announced on 25 October 2024 that a second border crossing between his country and Syria had been put out of service as a result of an Israeli airstrike. The minister said in a statement to the local Al-Jadeed channel, "The Israeli raid on the town of Josieh (...) led to the complete cutting off of the crossing linking Lebanese and Syrian territories at the Al-Qaa point in eastern Lebanon." He added: "There is only one crossing left open between Lebanon and Syria." Israeli warplanes raided the Lebanese-Syrian border at the Josieh-Qaa crossing, which led to its closure, according to the official Lebanese news agency.

The Israeli army, in turn, announced in a statement that its warplanes "launched raids last night, under the direction of the Intelligence Service, targeting military infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah, at the Josieh border crossing, north of the Bekaa region," it claimed. It said: "Just as Hezbollah exploited the civilian Masnaa crossing to transfer combat equipment from Syria to Lebanon to be used in operations against citizens of the State of Israel and Israeli army forces, Hezbollah planned to transfer weapons through the Jose crossing, which is under the control of the Syrian regime and supervised by Syrian military security." It added, claiming: "The weapons are transferred through Unit 4400, Hezbollah's arms transfer and cooperation unit, with the aim of using them against the Israeli home front (of the army) and our combat forces in southern Lebanon."