Germany on Wednesday arrested two suspected members of Hezbollah for their alleged involvement with the Iran-backed Lebanese group.
Lebanese citizen Hassan M and German-Lebanese dual national Abdul-Latif W are accused of organising Hezbollah activities in northern Germany.
They were held on arrest warrants that accuse them of belonging to a foreign terrorist group.
Anti-Israel Hezbollah is listed as a terrorist organisation in Germany and all its activities were banned in 2020.
Both men were also linked to a group called the Al Mustafa Society, which was banned in Germany in 2022 because of alleged connections to Hezbollah.
Abdul Latif W is suspected of belonging to an elite Hezbollah unit since at least 2004, prosecutors allege.
Prosecutors claim he ran the Al Mustafa Society along Hezbollah-inspired lines in the north-western city of Bremen and reported to superiors in Lebanon.
Abdul Latif W is said to have founded a youth group and arranged sermons by Hezbollah members and preachers with similar ideologies.
It is alleged he went to Syria in 2015 and 2016 to “strengthen the will to fight” of suspected extremist comrades.
Hassan M is said to have joined Hezbollah by 2016 at the latest and preached in the Al Mustafa Society.
Prosecutors said he oversaw contacts with Lebanese groups in Germany in order to “support them with organisational and ideological issues”.
A federal judge was to decide whether the two men would be held in custody.
Several groups in Germany have been raided or shut down because of alleged links to Hezbollah.
The anti-Hezbollah decree in 2020 included a ban on displaying the group’s symbols in public.
It banned all activities by Hezbollah “regardless of whether it presents itself as a political, social or military structure”.
Some countries make a distinction between Hezbollah’s military wing and its role in party politics in Lebanon.
Britain banned Hezbollah in its entirety in 2019. The US has had it on a terror list since 1997.
