Kuwait Arrests 12 Persons Allegedly Tied To Hezbollah

Weapons seized by security forces in 2015

The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that it had arrested 12 wanted members of the Al-Abdali cell accused of working with Lebanese Hezbollah.

“The competent security authorities arrested 12 men sentenced in the so-called “Al-Abdali cell” in different parts of the country in implementation of the ruling of the Court of Cassation issued in case No. 302/2016. And the search for the other convicts, two persons, is ongoing,” the official statement said.

The cell consisted of 14-16 members, including an Iranian citizen while the rest were Kuwaiti citizens, according to Kuwaiti sources.

The Kuwaiti authorities accused the cell members of possessing weapons and explosives, conducting military exercises and communicating with the Iranian intelligence and Hezbollah in order to carry out operations against the Kuwaiti state.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri will visit Kuwait for a day and will meet Kuwait’s Amir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to reassure Kuwait and solve the problem. It’s worth to mention that Kuwait had sent a protest note to the Lebanese government and called for “deterrent measures” against Hezbollah.

In his last speech, Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah denied any connection with the Al-Abdali cell and stressed that Hezbollah respects Kuwait and has no disagreement with it. The Kuwaiti authorities discovered the cell after they found weapons and explosives at a farm in Al-Abdali area in April 2015.