BERLIN: German federal prosecutors announced the arrest of two alleged members of Hezbollah on Wednesday suspected of recruiting and organizing activities for the Iran-backed Shiite movement.
Named only as Lebanese national Hassan M. and German-Lebanese dual citizen Abdul-Latif W. the pair were detained in northern Germany, the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
It said Abdul-Latif W. joined the organization “at the latest” in 2004 and Hassan M. in 2016. They are both now facing charges of “membership of a foreign terrorist organization.”
The pair are alleged to have represented Hezbollah in the Bremen region of northern Germany, handling organization and logistics for the group.
The two suspects were to appear later Wednesday before a judge “who will decide whether to remand them in custody.”
Hezbollah’s military wing is classed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, Britain and a majority of member states of the Arab League.
Germany banned the activities of the group’s political wing, which regularly organizes anti-Israeli demonstrations, in 2020.
Two suspected Hezbollah members arrested in Germany
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Two suspected Hezbollah members arrested in Germany
- The pair are alleged to have represented Hezbollah in the Bremen region of northern Germany, handling organization and logistics for the group
UN chief calls on Israel to reverse NGOs ban in Gaza
- In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out
- Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials
UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was “deeply concerned” at the development.
Guterres “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“This recent action will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians,” he added.
Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials.
The ban includes Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1,200 staff members in the Palestinian territories — the majority of whom are in Gaza.
NGOs included in the ban have been ordered to cease their operations by March 1.
Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence.
Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.
On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying “the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.”
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out.
Nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data, leaving infrastructure decimated.
About 1.5 million of Gaza’s more than two million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.
