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27-01-2026
BERLIN: German police have arrested a Lebanese national on suspicion of being a member of Hamas and planning attacks in Europe.
The man, named as “Mohammad S”, was stopped at Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport after arriving from Beirut on Friday evening.
Federal prosecutors said that in August 2025 he helped procure 300 rounds of ammunition and was involved in an alleged plot to attack Jewish and Israeli institutions.
He is due to be brought before a federal judge who will decide on a pretrial detention.
Hamas, which controlled Gaza but has been severely weakened by Israeli operations in the territory, is considered a terrorist organization by the US, UK, Israel and many other countries.
The militant Palestinian group carried out the attacks on Israel in October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage.
Since then, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military action.
German authorities say “Mohammad S” colluded with “Abed Al G”, one of three alleged Hamas members arrested last October over planned attacks on Jewish and Israeli institutions.
The three were reportedly arrested while meeting for a weapons handover in Berlin. Two of them are Germany nationals, another is from Lebanon.
Around the time of the arrests, police searches also took place in the German cities of Leipzig and Oberhausen, Der Spiegel reported.
Separately, in November, German authorities arrested another suspected member of Hamas also a Lebanese national near the border with the Czech Republic.
In October, last year, three suspected members of the Palestinian armed group Hamas have been arrested for allegedly planning attacks on Israeli and Jewish institutions in Germany, prosecutors say.
The three men two of whom are German citizens and one of whom is Lebanese-born are suspected of having procured firearms and ammunition since the summer to allegedly be used in the attacks, Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office said.
The men, named as Abed Al G, Wael F M and Ahmad I, were arrested in Berlin on Tuesday, the office added. Their arrests came a day before Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
Hamas which controls Gaza and is considered a terrorist organization by the EU denied any connection to the men.
The federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Wednesday that, during the course of the arrests, “various weapons, including an AK 47 assault rifle and several pistols, and a significant amount of ammunition, were found”.
It added: “The weapons were intended for use by Hamas in assassination attacks on Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany.”
Prosecutors in Germany typically only refer to suspects by their first name and an initial.
German media report the men were arrested when they met for a weapons handover in the capital.
Police searches also took place in the cities of Leipzig and Oberhausen around the time of the Berlin arrests, according to newspaper Der Spiegel.
The three have been charged with preparing a serious act of violence endangering the German state and membership of a foreign terrorist organization.
The suspects will appear before a federal judge on Thursday, the federal prosecutor said. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
