Hezbollah’s Tri-Border Area terror finance comes under fire at last By Emanuele Ottolenghi | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

On July 13, Argentina’s Financial Intelligence Unit froze assets of 14 Lebanese nationals and residents of the Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, or TBA. According to the FIU, the targeted individuals were part of a criminal organization linked to Hezbollah and associated with the Barakat clan, a powerful Lebanese Shi’a family whose leader in the TBA, Assad Ahmad Barakat, was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Treasury in 2004. The network transferred large quantities of cash across the TBA to the Argentinian side in Puerto Iguazu, using the local casino, just yards passed Argentinian customs at the border crossings, to launder the money.