A Lebanese man has gone on trial in Celle, northern Germany, accused of being a member of Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group whose military wing is banned as a terrorist organization by the EU.
The 35-year-old, named only as Fadel Z in accordance with German privacy law, is accused of playing a key role in purchasing products for Hezbollah’s drone program.
German federal prosecutors said Fadel Z joined Hezbollah more than a decade ago, first working in public relations.
In a statement, prosecutors said Fadel Z became a “foreign operator” for the group’s drone program in 2022, initially from Barcelona, Spain. In the summer of 2023 he started working from Germany.
According to the prosecutors’ statement, Hezbollah has been conducting “an extensive drone program” for some time.
Following Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, prosecutors said Hezbollah had “systematically fired explosive-laden rockets and drones at military and civilian targets in Israel.”
“As of June 2024, it had built up an arsenal of more than 10,000 [drone] units.”
To obtain such drones, “the organization employs foreign agents who secretly purchase components in Europe and export them to Lebanon,” prosecutors said.
Fadel Z is accused of purchasing materials and products for building drones worth around €1.4 million (£1.2 million), until his arrest in July 2024.
The products came from companies in Europe, China and the United States.
According to prosecutors, these included more than 2,000 gasoline and electric motors and more than 600 propellers.
Fadel Z would often have used shell companies registered in his name or that of his contacts to place orders. Suppliers were also paid through these companies.
Prosecutors say he also arranged for the goods to be transported to Lebanon – where the group is based – either by container ship from the ports of Hamburg or Spain or by air freight.
Two of the engines purchased by Fadel Z were used in explosive drones that Hezbollah fired at Israel, they added.
One of the drones was sent to a nursing home in the town of Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, on the night of October 11, 2024, the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
Although the explosive device detonated inside the building, none of the approximately 200 residents were injured.
The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said it considered this to be complicity in an assassination attempt.
The trial at the Celle Regional Court is expected to last until August next year.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensified after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli positions in the aftermath of Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023, claiming it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah waged an escalating conflict for 13 months. This culminated in an intense Israeli bombing campaign and ground incursion into southern Lebanon in October.
Lebanese authorities said Israeli attacks killed around 4,000 people, including many civilians, and displaced more than 1.2 million residents. Israeli authorities said more than 80 of their soldiers and 47 of their civilians had been killed in the hostilities.
