A drone carrying a Hezbollah flag in Aramta, south Lebanon, during a military parade organized in May 2023 to commemorate the liberation of the south from Israeli occupation. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
A logistics support network for Hezbollah involving Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom was dismantled between the summer of 2024 and last week, reported Le Figaro. According to the French daily, this network was engaged in "purchasing materials for the manufacture of drones and that all the elements acquired could have been used to manufacture several hundred, maybe up to a thousand, deadly devices."
In the summer of 2024, the Catalonia civil guard detected suspicious purchases of materials and components used in the manufacture of drones capable of carrying several kilograms of explosives by individuals of Lebanese origin through Spanish companies they controlled. According to investigators cited by Le Figaro in an article published Friday, the products purchased in Spain were intended to be shipped to Lebanon.
"In the elements purchased by the Hezbollah logistics support network, electronic guidance systems, propulsion propellers, dozens of gasoline engines, more than two hundred electric motors were found. Not to mention several tons of resins and products allowing the manufacture of fuselages, wings, and other parts of drones," reported the French daily. Investigators also suspect that elements from the same source may have already been used for drones launched by Hezbollah against Israel. They also discovered that purchases of components were also made in other European countries and elsewhere in the world.
Arrests in Spain and Germany
The Catalonia civil guard also found the establishment of one of the traffickers in Germany and requested the intervention of the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA, German federal criminal police) and the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV, internal intelligence service). On July 14, 2024, four arrests were made simultaneously in both countries. The civil guard arrested three individuals of Lebanese origin in Barcelona and the neighboring town of Badalona. In the Catalan capital, the suspects lived inconspicuously on a street in the center, just steps from the Sagrada Familia basilica.
"Two people are released and placed under judicial control with a passport withdrawal, prohibited from leaving Spanish territory, and regular summonses before the justice," said the French daily, noting that the third was placed in pre-trial detention.
The order issued by the Spanish judge confirms that the individual, of Lebanese nationality, was suspected of collaborating with Hezbollah by purchasing "materials that could be converted into weapons of war capable of being used against civilian and military targets in Israel and Europe." According to a French source, this network, however, had no terrorist projects in Europe. Information confirmed by the Spanish judge, who stated that the "final destination" of the purchased goods "would be Hezbollah in Lebanon."
For the Spanish justice system, the incarcerated suspect, Firas A.H., 38 years old, "is part of a group of individuals of Lebanese origin settled in Spain and Germany, linked to varying degrees to the terrorist organization." According to Le Figaro, this group was about to "proceed imminently with the shipment by maritime transport to Lebanon of a huge quantity of essential components for building unmanned aircraft, with the resulting risk for collective security and in particular of Israeli citizens." "Essential components," at least several dozens, were intercepted before use.
According to the German federal prosecutor's office, a Lebanese citizen, Fadel Z., was also arrested by the BKA on July 14, 2024, in Salzgitter (Lower Saxony). It also reports that the suspect joined Hezbollah in Lebanon "at the latest in the summer of 2016" and had purchased "components for the construction of military drones, particularly engines" in Germany since the beginning of 2024. Components "that were to be exported to Lebanon and used there in terrorist attacks against Israel," the investigation indicates.
The continued investigation has uncovered new leads. On April 1, the Spanish civil guard arrested three new suspects in Barcelona in the apartment already searched in July 2024: two were placed under judicial control, and the third, prosecuted for belonging to a criminal organization, financing criminal activities and trafficking in false documents, was incarcerated.
More arrests in France and the United Kingdom
After the German branch, French and British police intervened in the investigation. The General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) arrested a suspect. According to the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office, he was charged and taken into custody following the opening of a judicial investigation dated April 4, 2025. He is being prosecuted for a terrorist criminal association to prepare acts of terrorism aimed at one or more crimes against persons.
Meanwhile, British anti-terrorism police announced on April 3 that two men had been arrested. In north London, a 39-year-old individual suspected of being a member of a banned group – with Hezbollah, classified as a terrorist group, being banned in the United Kingdom since 2019 – of preparing acts of terrorism and being involved in the financing of terrorism. The second suspect, aged 35, is accused of belonging to a banned organization. The two men were released on bail until mid-July 2025.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.