Hezbollah Sleeper Cells Activated

While it may not be news to those "in the know" that there are "sleeper cells" in the United States and Canada, it may be a surprise to the average person that not only do these "sleeper cells" exist, but they are large in number.

More disturbing is the ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Hezbollah Poised To Strike which came out yesterday saying that Hezbollah has been activated to strike at Jewish Targets outside the middle east.

In the special report 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.

Suspected Hezbollah operatives have conducted recent surveillance on the Israeli embassy in Ottawa, Canada and on several synagogues in Toronto, according to the officials. However, there is no credible information on a specific target, according to the officials.

Latin American is also considered a possible target by officials following Hezbollah's planning.

A senior US counter-terrorism official told ABC News, "There are concerns Hezbollah might be ready to do something along those lines."

Three US law enforcement agencies say they have been briefed on the developments by intelligence agencies.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service says the agency does not comment on the existence of ongoing intelligence operations.

Officials say the CIA, the NSA, and British and Canadian intelligence agencies began to pick up a steady stream of information - from electronic intercepts, human sources and surveillance - about a possible Hezbollah attack on Feb. 17, just days after the Beirut funeral of Mugniyah where Hezbollah leaders publicly declared they would seek revenge.

"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."

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.

Meanwhile an expert in Canada, Alan Bell, an international terror expert and president of the security firm Globe Risk Holdings, has said that reports about Hezbollah's presence in North America are unsubstantiated, and the organization has no reason to attack on Canadian soil.

Bell says Hezbollah usually works in the Middle East, and they have little reason to attack in Canada as there are far easier targets elsewhere.

The only thing that has changed is that the present Canadian government is more closely aligned with Israel.

But Bell believes, "Canada is an area for Hezbollah for fundraising, recruiting and equipment and forgery of documents, etc., and if they attack inside Canada, there's a pretty good chance they're going to alienate a lot of their supporters."

In addition, Hezbollah would be very reluctant to attack on U.S. soil, as it would be seen as an attack by Iran, and give the U.S. government a reason to retaliate.

See also our related stories The Threat of Homegrown terror and Jihad In America - The Perfect Day.

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