UK police charge two with being Hezbollah members, attending terrorism training

Annis Makki, 40, Mohamed Hadi, 33, accused of training in Lebanon; police say arrests were made following work with ‘overseas’ colleagues, no threat assessed to wider public

LONDON — British police said on Tuesday that they had charged two men with being members of Hezbollah and attending terrorism training camps in Lebanon.

The Lebanese terror group, which is backed by Iran, is banned in the UK.

The men were arrested at their home addresses in London in April and rearrested last week when they were subsequently charged with a total of nine terrorism offenses.

“These arrests and charges follow a painstaking investigation by detectives of Counter Terrorism Policing London, who have worked closely with a number of overseas law enforcement colleagues,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of London’s Counter Terrorism Policing.

“I want to reassure the public that I do not assess there is an ongoing threat to the wider public as a result of the activities of these two individuals.”

Annis Makki, 40, is charged with attending a terrorist training camp at the Birket Jabbour airbase in Lebanon in 2021, being involved in the preparation of terrorist acts, being a member of Hezbollah, and expressing support both for Hezbollah and the terror group Hamas, which is also banned by the UK and supported by Iran.

Mohamed Hadi, 33, is also accused of belonging to Hezbollah and attending a training camp in Baffliyeh in south Lebanon in 2015 and at the Birket Jabbour airbase in 2021.

Both men were due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

A protester holds up a flag belonging to the Hezbollah terror group during a march to protest against Israel in central London, May 31, 2010. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

In London in 2015, British intelligence found four Hezbollah operatives with three tons of ammonium nitrate held in flour sacks, according to UK media. A senior Israeli official told the Kan public broadcaster in 2019 that the Mossad spy agency had tipped off British officials about the material, which can be used to make explosives.

The UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that the stockpile was part of a Hezbollah plan to attack Israeli targets across the globe. Other caches planted by Hezbollah cells were discovered in Cyprus, Thailand, and European countries, according to reports.

In 2020, Channel 12 reported that the Mossad tipped off German officials about Hezbollah operatives in southern Germany with enough ammonium nitrate “to blow up a city.” Germany subsequently banned Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.