Lebanese man jailed in Germany for Hezbollah membership

A court in Germany has sentenced a Lebanese man to six-and-a-half years in prison for being a member of Hezbollah, the Shia militia group, whose military wing is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the EU.

The 35-year-old man, named only as Fadel Z in line with German privacy rules, was also found guilty of aiding and abetting attempted murder, and numerous violations of European Union embargo regulations.

The court in the northern town of Celle heard how Fadel Z joined Hezbollah 10 years ago and had a key role procuring products for Hezbollah's drones programme.

Prosecutors accused him of purchasing €1.4m (£1.2m) worth of materials for the construction of drones.

They said these included more than 2,000 petrol and electric motors and over 600 propellers.

Fadel Z admitted to the deliveries, according to reports in the German media.

Prosecutors said Fadel Z, who most recently lived in Salzgitter in Lower Saxony, became a "foreign operator" for Hezbollah's drones programme in 2022, first from Barcelona in Spain. In the summer of 2023, he started working from Germany.

The products came from companies in Europe, China and the United States.

Fadel Z is said to have often used front companies registered in his own name or that of his contacts to place orders. Suppliers were also paid via these companies.

Prosecutors said Fadel Z also arranged for the goods to be transported to Lebanon either by container ship from ports in Hamburg or Spain or by air freight.

They said two of the engines purchased by Fadel Z were used in explosive drones that Hezbollah fired at Israel.

One of the drones was flown into a retirement home in the town of Herzliya near Tel Aviv on the night of 11 October 2024, on the Jewish Holy Day, Yom Kippur.

Although the explosive device detonated inside the building, none of the 200 or so residents were injured.

As a result of this incident, Fadel Z was found guilty of aiding and abetting attempted murder.

He has one week to decide whether to appeal against the verdict and will remain in custody during that time.

According to an earlier statement by the German Federal Prosecutor's Office, Hezbollah has been running "an extensive drone program for some time".

Following the Hamas 7 October attacks on Israel in 2023, it said Hezbollah had "systematically fired rockets and explosive-laden drones at both military and civilian targets in Israel".

To procure such drones, "the organisation employs foreign operatives who covertly purchase components in Europe and export them to Lebanon", prosecutors said.