By: V4 Agency
Both the number of members and supporters of the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organisation has risen in Germany, an intelligence report suggests.
Germany has witnessed an increase in both the number of members and supporters of the Lebanese terrorist organisation Hezbollah, according to a recent report by the local intelligence agency of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) in Lower Saxony.
Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia political and paramilitary organisation, which has been classified as a terrorist organisation by the US, the Netherlands, Israel, Canada and many other countries. The EU has added the organisation’s military wing to the list of banned groups, treating Hezbollah’s political wing separately.
Germany’s interior ministry has banned all Hezbollah activities within the territory of the federal republic, The Jerusalem Post writes. The report, covered by the paper in detail, examines the security risks to the constitutional and democratic system of Lower Saxony.
It claims that while Hezbollah only had 1,050 supporters in 2019 in Germany, this number increased to 1,250 by 2020, adding that 180 of these individuals lived in Lower Saxony.
“Hezbollah denies the existence of Israel and fights against it by terrorist means. In Germany, Hezbollah supporters maintain organisational and ideological cohesion, among others in local mosques and associations which they fund from donations,” the report reads.
The intelligence agency says Hezbollah needs to be monitored because of their anti-West ideology and terrorism. The organisation’s “mobilisation potential” in Germany should not be underestimated, they note.
The number of Islamists in Germany grew by approximately 700 in 2020. Authorities currently have over 28,700 Islamists registered.