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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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Türkiye Says 5 Soldiers Killed by Methane Gas during Cave Search in Northern Iraq

A Turkish soldier walks next to a Turkish military vehicle (File photo/Reuters)
A Turkish soldier walks next to a Turkish military vehicle (File photo/Reuters)
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Türkiye Says 5 Soldiers Killed by Methane Gas during Cave Search in Northern Iraq

A Turkish soldier walks next to a Turkish military vehicle (File photo/Reuters)
A Turkish soldier walks next to a Turkish military vehicle (File photo/Reuters)

Five Turkish soldiers have died after exposure to methane gas on Sunday while searching a cave in northern Iraq for the remains of a fellow soldier killed by Kurdish militants in 2022, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

Soldiers were searching a mountain cave when 19 of them were exposed to the gas, which is colorless, odorless, flammable and can cause asphyxiation in sufficient concentration.

“They were immediately transported to the hospital (but) despite all interventions, five heroic personnel were martyred,” the ministry said in a statement, The AP news reported. “Rescue operations in the area continue.”

The ministry did not give a specific location for the incident other than the “Claw-Lock Operation region,” a reference to an operation launched against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in north Iraq in April 2022.

The Turkish unit affected by methane gas was searching for the remains of an infantry officer killed by “terrorist gunfire” during a search-and-clear operation in May 2022, the ministry said. For the last three years, teams have been hunting for his remains.

The cave was at an altitude of 852 meters (2,795 foot) and was known to have been used as a hospital by the PKK in the past, although it had since been cleared by Turkish soldiers.

The office of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the soldiers were “exposed to a high concentration of accumulated methane gas.”

Türkiye and the PKK have waged a 40-year conflict which has often spilled over into Iraq and Syria. Türkiye has set up a series of bases in northern Iraq, where the PKK has been established for decades.

The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Türkiye and most of the West, announced in May that it would disband and renounce armed conflict as part of a new peace initiative with Türkiye.

Its fighters are expected to begin handing over their weapons over the next few days in the first concrete move toward disarmament.