Hezbollah sleepers cell activated in Canada?

Intelligence officials tell ABC News the group has activated suspected "sleeper cells" in Canada and key operatives have been tracked moving outside the group's Lebanon base to Canada, Europe and Africa.

Officials say Hezbollah is seeking revenge for the February assassination of Hezbollah's military commander, Imad Mugniyah, killed by a car bomb in Damascus, Syria.

Suspected Hezbollah operatives have conducted recent surveillance on the Israeli embassy in Ottawa, Canada and on several synagogues in Toronto, according to the officials.

Alarms were first raised in Canada, where as many as 20 suspected Hezbollah members have been under surveillance after as many as four suspected "sleeper cells" were activated, including one known as "Rashedan," intelligence officials tell ABC News. The members also received instruction to send their family members home to Lebanon, according to officials.

Officials have also reported that a known Hezbollah weapons expert was followed to Canada, where he was seen at a firing range south of Toronto, near the US border.

Toronto has long been considered an important city for Hezbollah fund-raising and organizing, according to officials.

Pro-Hezbollah rallies and billboards depicting Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, have outraged Jewish groups.

"Because of lax immigration policies, it became a center for Hezbollah operations outside the Middle East," said Malcolm Hoenlein, of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.

Hezbollah was declared a terror group by the government of Canada in December, 2002, leading to an increased surveillance of suspected members.

"They want to kill as many people as they can, they want it to be a big splash," said former CIA intelligence officer Bob Baer, who says he met with Hezbollah leaders in Beirut last month.

 

"They cannot have an operation fail," said Baer, "and I don't think they will. They're the A-team of terrorism."