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On August 4, 2020, the city of Beirut was devastated by the explosion of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, stored in the port. All eyes turned to Hezbollah, an Islamist movement linked to Iran, which controls a large part of Lebanon. Despite pressure from the street and the international community, the “Party of God” refused any independent investigation into the causes of the explosion. For 40 years, its militants have infiltrated all the workings of the Lebanese state and have defied the law. However, in the mid-2000s, a handful of police officers from the D.E.A., the American anti-drug agency, tried in the greatest secrecy to bring down Hezbollah. The code name of their operation: Cassandra. Their investigation begins in the United States on the still smoldering ruins of the World Trade Centre….

The assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005 caused an earthquake in Lebanon and in the international community. All eyes turned to Syria, which was accused of being the sponsor of this attack. The army of Bashar al-Assad, which occupied part of the country, was forced to retreat amid hostility from the local population. With the withdrawal of the Syrians, Hezbollah lost a long-time ally and protector. More seriously, it also found itself in the dock, suspected of complicity in the murder of Hariri.

France has been the preferred country for Hezbollah militants to seek asylum since 2010. It offers several advantages: the potential to blend in with a large Lebanese community and free movement on European territory. Paris was chosen as a bridgehead for laundering money from cocaine trafficking. The D.E.A., the American anti-drug agency, alerted the French police. Together they opened a new chapter in Operation Cassandra, named “Operation Cedar” after the tree that symbolizes Lebanon.