The Spanish “Guardia Civil,” one of the country’s security forces, arrested three Lebanese individuals on April 2 in an international counterterrorism operation against a Hezbollah-linked group. Additional arrests were made in the United Kingdom and France.
British counterterrorism police arrested two individuals linked to Hezbollah, one of whom is accused of preparing acts of terrorism and terror funding. According to the Reuters news agency, the two men were released shortly after on police bail until mid-July. There was no information on who was arrested in France.
Spanish officials say arrests are connected to an operation carried out there last summer against a Hezbollah cell whose members were arrested and accused of building more than 1,000 drones for the terrorist group after purchasing the components from Spanish and other European companies. A suspect was also arrested in Germany.
Items purchased included electronic guidance systems, propulsion propellers, gasoline engines, more than 200 electric motors, and materials for manufacturing drone fuselages and wings.
These ongoing terror investigations and arrests show that despite its heavy defeat at the hands of Israel and the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime in Syria, Hezbollah remains a transnationally active proxy for the Iranian regime. It continues to pose a risk to Israel as well as to Jews and Israelis abroad.
Earlier this month, Israel’s National Security Council warned of a significant rise in terrorist threats against Israelis and Jews worldwide ahead of the spring holidays and summer travel season as the Iranian regime continues to use terrorism as a central policy tool and as retaliation for the assassinations of senior Iranian, Hezbollah and Hamas operatives.
Despite Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, the group still has extensive networks able to provide logistical, financial and operational support for potential terrorist acts, especially in Latin America and Europe, as the latest arrests indicate.
It is worth recalling that, in March 2024, the Argentine police arrested four people in the provinces of Cordoba and Santa Fe, all accused of belonging to a cell that provided financial support to Hezbollah through the transfer of assets from cryptocurrency transactions.
In South America, Hezbollah has been fully banned by Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay, with no differentiation made between the “political” and “military” branches. The same holds true in the United States, Great Britain, Australia and Canada.
In the European Union, however, this issue is still far from being solved. The E.U. has so far only banned the “military branch,” while Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Slovenia have implemented a blacklisting of both branches.
As explained by analyst Daniel Schwammenthal in a July 2023 article for the American Jewish Committee, “The true reason that the E.U. hasn’t banned Hezbollah’s so-called political arm is not because anyone really believes in Hezbollah’s immaculate bifurcation. Rather, the argument is that Hezbollah is a major player in Lebanese politics and banning it would supposedly destabilize the country. Continuing the so-called ‘critical dialogue’ with Hezbollah is believed to somehow help maintain a level of order in the country.”
It is no coincidence that France and Italy have not yet banned Hezbollah, given the significant interests that the two countries maintain in Lebanon.
However, following the defeat of Hezbollah and the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, the internal political dynamics of Lebanon have changed radically. The “Party of God,” as it is called, no longer controls the country, and its threat has been greatly reduced by the Israeli military offensive, to the point that the Lebanese authorities have begun, albeit timidly, to move against Hezbollah. This would therefore be the right time to proceed with a total ban by all E.U. countries.