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Hezbollah Drone Smuggling Investigation (2024–2025)
Hezbollah drone smuggling investigation (2024–2025) was a counterterrorism operation spanning several European countries where authorities have dismantled a Hezbollah-linked network responsible for smuggling drone components from Europe to Lebanon for use by the group. The network, active between mid-2024 and early 2025, involved individuals of Lebanese origin operating in Spain, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. Investigation and arrests The investigation started in Catalonia, Spain, where the Civil Guard identified suspicious purchases of materials associated with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) production. These materials included electronic guidance systems, propulsion propellers, gasoline and electric engines, and raw materials for drone bodies and wings. Authorities estimate that the seized components could have been used to assemble hundreds, potentially thousands, of drones capable of carrying several kilograms of explosives. On July 14, 2024, coordinated efforts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hezbollah
Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Its armed strength was assessed to be equivalent to that of a medium-sized army in 2016. Hezbollah was founded in 1982 by Lebanese clerics in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Inspired by the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's model of Islamic governance, Hezbollah established strong ties with Iran. The group was initially supported by 1,500 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) instructors, who helped unify various Lebanese Shia factions under Hezbollah's leadership. Hezbollah's 1985 manifesto outlined its key objectives, which include expelling Western influence from the region, destroying Israel, pledging allegiance to Iran's supreme leader, and establishing an Islamic government influenced by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salzgitter
Salzgitter (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Soltgitter'') is an independent city#Germany, independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the seven ''Oberzentren'' (metropolitan areas) of Lower Saxony. With 107,674 inhabitants and (as of 2015), it is the largest city by area in Lower Saxony and one of the largest in Germany. Salzgitter originated as a conglomeration of several small towns and villages, and is today made up of 31 boroughs, which are relatively compact conurbations with wide stretches of open country between them. The city is part of two urban areas, Hildesheim and Braunschweig, because of its uneven distribution of urban quarters. Due to the uneven population distribution, the density of the areas within the Braunschweig urban area is over 1,500 people per km² with the Lebenstedt area having over 3,000 people per km². Over 70% (76,500) of the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counterterrorism In France
Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to combat or eliminate terrorism and violent extremism. If an act of terrorism occurs as part of a broader insurgency (and insurgency is included in the definition of terrorism) then counterterrorism may additionally employ counterinsurgency measures. The United States Armed Forces uses the term "foreign internal defense" for programs that support other countries' attempts to suppress insurgency, lawlessness, or subversion, or to reduce the conditions under which threats to national security may develop. History The first counterterrorism body to be formed was the Special Irish Branch of the Metropolitan Police, later renamed the Special Branch after it expanded its scope beyond its original focus on Fenian terrorism. Various law enforcement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hezbollah Foreign Relations
Hezbollah has a Foreign Relations Unit () and maintains relations with a number of foreign countries and entities. These are particularly Shia states, but also Sunni groups like those affiliated with the Palestinian cause; and the group is also suggested to have operations outside the Middle East in places such as Latin America and North Korea. Hezbollah has especially close relations with Iran, with the former Alawite leadership in Syria, specifically with President Hafez al-Assad (until his death in 2000) and his son and successor Bashar al-Assad (until he was otherthrown in 2024), and has sent fighters in support of Assad in the Syrian Civil War. Hezbollah declared its support for the now-concluded Al-Aqsa Intifada. There is little evidence of ongoing Hezbollah contact or cooperation with al-Qaeda. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hezbollah Armed Strength
Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, has an exceptionally strong military wing, thought to be stronger than the Lebanese Army and equivalent to the armed strength of a medium-sized army. A hybrid force, the group maintains "robust conventional and unconventional military capabilities", and is generally considered to be the most powerful non-state actor in the world. Estimates vary widely, but as of October 2021, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed his organization has 100,000 trained fighters. In 2017, Janes assessed Hezbollah's strength at more than 20,000+ full-time fighters and approximately 20,000+ reservists. They are financed in part by Iran and trained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Hezbollah's military budget is $700 million according to 2018 U.S. official estimates. Hezbollah's primary enemy is Israel, and to a large extent its military strength is based on rockets. Hezbollah's strategy against Israel use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arms Trafficking
Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms, explosives, and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal trade of small arms, unlike other organized crime commodities, is more closely associated with exercising power in communities instead of achieving economic gain. Scholars estimate illegal arms transactions amount to over US$1 billion annually. To keep track of imports and exports of several of the most dangerous armament categories, the United Nations, in 1991, created a Register for Conventional Arms. Participation, however, is not compulsory, and lacks comprehensive data in regions outside of Europe. Africa, due to a prevalence of corrupt officials and loosely enforced trade regulations, is a region with extensive illicit arms activity. In a resolution to complement the Register with legally binding obligations, a Firearms Protocol was in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Directorate For Internal Security
The General Directorate for Internal Security (, , DGSI; also known as the Directorate-General for Internal Security in English) is a French security agency. It is charged with counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, countering cybercrime and surveillance of potentially threatening groups, organisations and social phenomena. The agency was created in 2008 under the name Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence (, DCRI), merging the '' Direction centrale des renseignements généraux'' (RG) and the '' Direction de la surveillance du territoire'' (DST) of the National Police. It acquired its current name in 2014, with a small structural shift: contrary to the DCRI which was part of the National Police, the DGSI reports directly to the Ministry of the Interior. The DGSI is headed by General Director . The agency is informally known as the "RG", a nickname formerly used for the '''' which merged into it. The DGSI performs among the others the following tasks: prevents and halts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany)
The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (, , abbreviated ') is the Federal republic, federal Security agency, investigative police agency of Germany, directly subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany), Federal Ministry of the Interior. It is headquartered in Wiesbaden, Hesse, and maintains major branch offices in Berlin and Meckenheim (Rhineland), Meckenheim near Bonn. It has been headed by Holger Münch since December 2014. Primary jurisdiction of the agency includes coordinating cooperation between the federation and state police forces, investigating cases of organized crime, international organized crime, terrorism and other cases related to national security as well as providing protection to members of Constitution of Germany#Constitutional institutions, constitutional institutions and federal witnesses. When requested by the respective state authorities or the federal minister of the interior, it also assumes responsibility for investigations in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western European nations in the early 20th century as a replacement of the term Near East (both were in contrast to the Far East). The term "Middle East" has led to some confusion over its changing definitions. Since the late 20th century, it has been criticized as being too Eurocentrism, Eurocentric. The region includes the vast majority of the territories included in the closely associated definition of West Asia, but without the South Caucasus. It also includes all of Egypt (not just the Sinai Peninsula, Sinai) and all of Turkey (including East Thrace). Most Middle Eastern countries (13 out of 18) are part of the Arab world. The list of Middle Eastern countries by population, most populous countries in the region are Egypt, Turkey, and Iran, whil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Badalona
Badalona (, , , ) is a municipality in Barcelonès county, in Catalonia (Spain). It is located to the north east of Barcelona, on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By population, it is the third largest city in Catalonia and the twenty-third in Spain. It became a city in 1897. Names The name Badalona comes from ancient Iberian word ''Baitolo'' according to the legend of several bronze coins of the end of the 2nd century BC found in the city. This word was the origin of the Latin name ''Baetulo'' that was as the Romans named the new city they founded off the coast of present Badalona. The oldest mention of the name Baetulo is from ''De Chorographia'' of Pomponius Mela (43–44 AD), who use the same name for the Besòs river (named ''Bissaucio'' during the Middle Ages). Following the Roman era, during the High Middle Ages the name ''Baetulo'' evolved to ''Bitulona'', which was the most common name but not the onl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
