By ANDY SOLTIS
June 20, 2008
Thug's slay spurs "revenge" cry.
Mounting intelligence evidence reveals Hezbollah is preparing to carry out a terrorist attack on "Jewish targets" outside the Mideast, possibly in Canada, ABC News reported yesterday.
Intelligence officials said the Lebanese-based guerrillas have activated "sleeper cells" of its agents in Canada to avenge the February assassination of its military commander, whose death they blame on Israel.
Officials said Hezbollah operatives conducted surveillance recently of the Israeli Embassy in Ottawa and several synagogues in Toronto, a hotbed of fund-raising for the radical "Party of God" group.
A Hezbollah weapons expert was tracked to Canada and was spotted at a firing range near the US border south of Toronto, officials said.
Hezbollah agents were also tracked moving from the group's base in southern Lebanon to Europe and Africa. Latin America, where Hezbollah is the chief suspect in two anti-Jewish bombings, may also be a target, they said.
Western intelligence agencies, including the CIA, became aware of hints about an impending attack beginning on Feb. 17. That was four days after Imad Mughniyeh was blown up by a car bomb in Damascus, Syria.
Israel had long blamed Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's master of terror operations, for two atrocities in Argentina: the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center, both in Buenos Aires. More than 100 people were killed.
In February, Hezbollah leaders blamed Mughniyeh's death on Israel and vowed to retaliate.
Intelligence officials told ABC there is no credible evidence of a specific target for Hezbollah's vengeance.
But Canada became a center of concern after as many as four Hezbollah sleeper cells, including one known as "Rashedan," were activated earlier this year.
As many as 20 suspected Hezbollah members have been placed under surveillance, officials said.
