Kuwait said it had detained 16 people accused of links to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The Interior Ministry said 14 Kuwaitis and two Lebanese citizens affiliated with the Iran-backed group were arrested over a “sabotage plot” in the Gulf nation.
“The Ministry of Interior announces that the competent security agencies, following precise and intensive surveillance and monitoring operations, have succeeded in uncovering and apprehending a terrorist group affiliated with the banned terrorist organisation Hezbollah, which aims to undermine security in the country and recruit individuals to join the terrorist organisation,” the ministry said in a post on X late on Monday.
Those held were accused of “targeting the sovereignty of the country, destabilising it, and seeking to spread chaos and disrupt public order”.
A raid uncovered drones, ammunition and other weapons, flags and encrypted communications devices.
“The security and sovereignty of the state of Kuwait are a red line that cannot be violated, and any attempt to collaborate with external terrorist entities, endorse them, sympathise with them, or provide them with financial support at the expense of national security will be met with strict and decisive measures, with no leniency,” the ministry added.
Kuwait has been the target of Iranian attacks in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes on Iran late last month. More than 680 drones and missiles have been fired at the country since the start of the conflict on February 28.
Qatar and Bahrain have also announced arrests this month, detaining individuals and cells on espionage charges for allegedly providing “sensitive” information to, and operating for, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Kuwait considers Hezbollah a banned organisation. It proscribed the group in 2016, aligning with a broader move by the Gulf Co-operation Council to designate it a terrorist organisation. The ban criminalises membership, support, financing and any form of co-operation with Hezbollah.
Although its national armed forces are playing no part, Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
US President Donald Trump's administration has urged its diplomats abroad to convince allies to designate the IRGC and Hezbollah as terrorist groups, according to an internal State Department missive seen by Reuters.
The directive, dated March 16 and signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was sent to all of Washington's diplomatic and consular posts worldwide.
It asks them to deliver the message to their counterparts “at the highest appropriate level” by no later than March 20 and recommends efforts at blacklisting the groups in question should be co-ordinated with Israeli counterparts.
