Germany jails man for supplying Hezbollah with drone equipment

A German court jails a 35-year-old man for supplying the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group with equipment for drones.

The Lebanese man, previously named as Fadel Z., is convicted of offenses including “membership of a foreign terrorist organization” and being “an accomplice to attempted murder.”

The court in the city of Celle sentences him to six years and four months in prison.

It finds that Fadel Z. joined Hezbollah at some point after July 2016.

It says that by 2022, he had organized exports of “militarily useful goods” to the tune of 500,000 euros ($580,000) in order to help Hezbollah’s drone program.

The components he delivered included material for more than 300 explosive drones.

The man was arrested in summer 2024.

The court notes that he was “born in a Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon and was brought up with the ideology of the terror organization.”

Prosecutors had demanded a jail sentence of nine years, but the court decides on a lower term, partly because Fadel Z. admitted some of the offenses and thereby sped up the trial.

Hezbollah’s military wing is classed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Britain.

Germany considers Hezbollah a Shiite terrorist organization, and in 2020 banned Hezbollah from carrying out activities on its soil.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.