German police on Sunday arrested a suspected Hezbollah terrorist who had allegedly been procuring drone parts for attacks against Israel.
Federal prosecutors said on Monday that the Lebanese man, identified only as Fadel Z. due to German privacy laws, was detained in the town of Salzgitter in the northwestern state of Lower Saxony.
In a statement, the prosecutors said that he is “strongly suspected of membership of a foreign terrorist organization,” joining the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror army in the summer of 2016 and this year allegedly acquiring “components, particularly engines for the assembly of drones” that “were supposed to be exported to Lebanon and used in terrorist attacks on Israel.”
On Monday, a judge ordered that Fadel Z. be kept in custody pending a possible indictment.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel the day after the Oct. 7 massacre in support of the Hamas terror group in Gaza. The near-daily targeting of northern Israel with rockets, missiles and drones has caused casualties and widespread damage. Jerusalem has evacuated tens of thousands of people from areas near the Lebanese border.
Germany designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization in 2020 and banned all activity by the group on its soil.
“The activities of Hezbollah violate criminal law and the organization opposes the concept of international understanding,” said Germany’s Interior Ministry at the time, adding that the group’s assets could now be confiscated.
Security officials estimate that 1,050 people in Germany are members of the terror group.
In November of last year, Germany announced a complete ban on Hamas activities in the country.
“With Hamas, I have today completely banned the activities of a terrorist organization whose aim is to destroy the State of Israel,” said German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.
The German wing of Samidoun, a Palestinian organization with close ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group, was also disbanded.
Faeser said that Samidoun worked under the guise of a solidarity group for Palestinian prisoners to spread antisemitic hate and anti-Israel propaganda.
“The holding of spontaneous ‘celebrations’ here in Germany in response to the terrible terrorist attacks of Hamas against Israel shows the antisemitic, inhuman worldview of Samidoun,” she said.
Samidoun’s German branch had previously organized a march in Berlin on April 8 where the mainly German Muslim participants chanted “Death to Jews” and “Death to Israel.”