MADRID (AP) — Three people have been arrested in Spain and another in Germany on suspicion of participating in a network that supplied the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah with components to build kamikaze drones that were allegedly used in attacks in northern Israel, Spanish authorities said Thursday.
The investigation began in Spain when the Guardia Civil discovered “suspicious operations” by Spanish companies run by Lebanese nationals involving large quantities of materials and components for the production of drones capable of carrying explosive charges weighing several kilos, the statement said.
Authorities suspect that Hezbollah has built hundreds of drones using these parts.
According to investigators, the Spanish companies, like others in Europe and the rest of the world, purchased electronic guidance components, propulsion propellers, gasoline engines, more than 200 electric motors and materials for the fuselage, wings and other drone parts.
The components obtained by the network, which has since been dismantled, were identified in drones used by Hezbollah militants in attacks on Israel after the start of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7.
Since then, Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also more than 80 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed.
