Hezbollah member arrested in Germany for buying drone parts

According to German media, as well as Reuters and AFP, a man has been arrested in Germany on suspicion of having links to Hezbollah and of having purchased spare parts for drones. “The engines were to be used for attacks on Israel. The Lebanese is in custody,” Tagesspiegel reported. Hezbollah has used hundreds of drones in its attacks on Israel since October 8, when it began attacking Israel following the Hamas attack. Hezbollah’s drone attacks have become increasingly deadly in recent months.

According to reports, the man was arrested in the central German state of Lower Saxony. “A man named Fadel Z. is said to have purchased components for military drones on behalf of Hezbollah,” Tagesspiegel added. The man is Lebanese and lived in Salzgitter, a city of about 100,000 with a large population of immigrants from the Middle East.

The man was arrested on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organization. “The alleged Hezbollah supporter was brought before the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice on Monday, who executed the arrest warrant,” Karlsruhe investigators said, according to Tagesspiegel. The suspect joined Hezbollah in 2016, according to the reports. It is not known how long he has been living in Germany.

The intention to attack Israel

Reuters reported similar information, noting that “German police have arrested a Lebanese national suspected of being affiliated with the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, which purchased drone components for export to be used in attacks against Israel, prosecutors said on Monday. He is suspected of belonging to a foreign terrorist organization.”

Iran has long sought to bolster its drone program by procuring dual-use components from Europe and the West. That includes engines. It makes sense that Hezbollah would replicate this model. Using intermediaries or front companies, engines and other components can be acquired and sometimes shipped to third parties or third countries before being shipped to countries like Lebanon or Iran, or smuggled into Yemen.

Iranian Shahed 136 suicide drones exported to Russia in 2022 have been found with components acquired in Europe. The drones were used to attack Ukrainians. “Iranian suicide drones used in recent attacks on Ukrainian cities are packed with European components, according to a secret document Kiev sent to its Western allies in which it requests long-range missiles to attack production sites in Russia, Iran and Syria,” the Guardian noted.

German-made engines are renowned for their quality. An investigation by Conflict Armament Research revealed that in 2006, German Limbach Flugmotoren L-550 drone engines were illegally exported to Iran. In 2009, Mado (Iran) CEO Yousaf Aboutalebi – who has since been sanctioned – advertised the manufacture of a domestic drone engine by his company, the name of which was not disclosed at the time.

Hezbollah recently said it was using Iran’s Shahed 101 drone to attack Israel. Hezbollah has thousands of drones and has increased their range and accuracy. It needs good components to produce quality drones capable of carrying out the type of attacks Hezbollah seeks to implement. Illegal acquisition of parts in Europe would make sense for Hezbollah and would be consistent with how Iran has manufactured drones over the past two decades.