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Germany Arrests a Lebanese Man Accused of Being a Member of Hezbollah

Mourners gather during the funeral of five Hezbollah fighters, who were killed during hostilities with Israeli forces, in the village Al-Sawana, southern Lebanon 03 December 2024. (EPA)
Mourners gather during the funeral of five Hezbollah fighters, who were killed during hostilities with Israeli forces, in the village Al-Sawana, southern Lebanon 03 December 2024. (EPA)
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Germany Arrests a Lebanese Man Accused of Being a Member of Hezbollah

Mourners gather during the funeral of five Hezbollah fighters, who were killed during hostilities with Israeli forces, in the village Al-Sawana, southern Lebanon 03 December 2024. (EPA)
Mourners gather during the funeral of five Hezbollah fighters, who were killed during hostilities with Israeli forces, in the village Al-Sawana, southern Lebanon 03 December 2024. (EPA)

German authorities have arrested a Lebanese man accused of being a member of Hezbollah and working for groups controlled by the organization in Germany.

Federal prosecutors said the suspect, identified only as Fadel R. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in the Hannover region on Tuesday. The man is suspected of membership in a foreign terrorist organization and is not accused of direct involvement in any violence.

Prosecutors said he joined Hezbollah in the summer of 2008 or earlier and took part in leadership training courses in Lebanon. From 2009, he allegedly had leadership duties in two groups controlled by Hezbollah in the Hannover area, organizing appearances by preachers close to the party.

According to prosecutors, he was briefly a correspondent for a Hezbollah media outlet in 2017 and was tasked with coordinating building work at a mosque.

Germany is a staunch ally of Israel. It is also home to a Lebanese immigrant community of more than 100,000.

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China, Iran, Russia Kick Off Talks in Beijing on Iran's Nuclear Issues

The Iranian flag waves in front of the IAEA headquarters. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the IAEA headquarters. (Reuters)
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China, Iran, Russia Kick Off Talks in Beijing on Iran's Nuclear Issues

The Iranian flag waves in front of the IAEA headquarters. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the IAEA headquarters. (Reuters)

Senior diplomats from Iran, Russia and China gathered in Beijing on Friday for talks on Tehran's nuclear issues, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported, days after Tehran rejected US "orders" to resume dialogue over the Iranian nuclear program.
In 2015, Iran reached a deal with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany and agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. But in 2018, Donald Trump, a year into his first term as US president, pulled out of the pact, Reuters reported.
Last week, Trump said he had sent a letter to Iranian Supreme leader Ali Khamenei proposing nuclear talks, adding that "there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal".
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian responded that he would not negotiate with the US while being "threatened", and Iran would not bow to US "orders" to talk.
Iran was further enraged after six of the United Nations Security Council's 15 members - the US, France, Greece, Panama, South Korea and Britain - held a closed-door meeting this week to discuss its nuclear program. Tehran said the meeting was a "misuse" of the UN Security Council.
In the run-up to the Beijing talks on Friday - attended by the vice foreign ministers of China, Russia and Iran - China said it hoped the trilateral meeting would help create "conditions" for the early resumption of dialogue and negotiations.
Iran has long denied that it is working on developing a nuclear weapon. But the International Atomic Energy Agency warned last month that Tehran was "dramatically" accelerating enrichment of uranium to near the roughly 90% weapons-grade level.