The news of a Hezbollah leader fleeing to Israel is old... and the photo is of the Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council of the Iranian regime.

Pages and accounts on social media published news with a picture attached, claiming: “The leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, the communications engineer and the general manager of the party’s media, Hussein Pasha, fled to Israel, taking with him secret documents and maps belonging to the party, in addition to 5 million dollars.”

The Palestinian Observatory “Tahaqaq” verified the truth of the circulated news by searching public sources and official websites, and it turned out that the news is old, and the attached photo is of an Iranian official.

The origin of this claim goes back to information published by the Israeli Channel 7 on October 13, 2012, where the details of the news at the time were as follows: “A prominent member of the Hezbollah organization defected to Israel, and brought with him many secret documents and maps, and a large sum of money that he stole, according to what was reported in the Lebanese media.”

According to a report by Israel’s Channel 7, this person is communications engineer Hussein Pasha, 29 years old, who crossed the border into Israel with $5 million he stole from Hezbollah.

The “Tahaqaq” team found that the same claim was published under different names and positions. On October 14 of the same year, websites published news about the escape of Hassan Fahs, the treasurer of the Lebanese Hezbollah, known politically as Hezbollah’s Minister of Finance, to Israel after he embezzled nearly $5 million of the organization’s funds, and fled with them to “Israel” several days ago. The news was attributed to political security agencies, quoting the Israeli newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth”.

According to the newspaper, the sources indicated that Fahs fled with many important political documents and structural maps of the party, which prompted a number of senior Israeli officials to confirm that this news was a political bomb that exploded in the face of Hezbollah, especially since Fahs not only knows Hezbollah’s strategic bases and hideouts, but also knows the details of Hezbollah’s money and economic projects abroad, and the details of its economic cooperation with more than one country in the world, especially in South America.

Lebanese media also reported at the time that Hezbollah’s financial director had fled to Israel with money. The sources said that this official’s name was Hassan Fahs, but did not provide further details.

It is worth noting that the “Tahaqaq” team did not find any comment from Hezbollah or the official and independent Lebanese security authorities denying or confirming the circulated information, so the observatory was unable to verify the validity of the claim or not.

News about the escape of Hezbollah’s financial director to Israel with money and maps.

?What is the truth behind the picture attached to the claim

The picture belongs to the Iranian official Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who was appointed in 2021 as Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, and previously held several positions, including Deputy Minister of the Iranian Interior for Security Affairs, and was previously appointed as a commander in the Revolutionary Guards, and also served as Deputy General Staff of the Armed Forces for Basij Forces Affairs.

Attempted assassination of Hezbollah leader Ali Al-Karaki The claim was circulated after Hezbollah announced yesterday, Tuesday, September 24, that an attempt to assassinate military leader Ali Al-Karaki had failed in an Israeli raid on the southern suburbs of Beirut

The Israeli army announced, through military sources, that an airstrike launched by the army on the Beirut suburb targeted Karki.