ABC: Hezbollah likely planning attack

WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- U.S. and Canadian intelligence agencies say there's mounting evidence Hezbollah is planning attacks on Jewish targets outside the Middle East.

ABC quotes intelligence officials as saying Hezbollah, backed by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, has activated sleeper cells in Canada and is seeking revenge for the February assassination of Imad Mugniyah, who died in a Damascus, Syria, car bombing. Israel has denied involvement in the bombing but Hezbollah blames the Jewish state.

ABC said possible targets include the Israeli Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, as well as synagogues in Toronto, which Jewish organizations say has become a center for Hezbollah operations outside the Middle East.

A U.S. target was considered unlikely because Iran doesn't want to give Washington an excuse to attack, former CIA intelligence officer Bob Baer told ABC.

Electronic intercepts captured by the CIA, the National Security Agency and British and Canadian intelligence indicate something is afoot although no specific targets have been mentioned. Canada has as many as 20 suspected Hezbollah members under surveillance, ABC said.

"They want to kill as many people as they can, they want it to be a big splash," Baer, who says he met with Hezbollah leaders in Beirut last month, told ABC.

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

Hezbollah last struck outside the Middle East in 1994 when terrorists attacked a Jewish community center in Argentina.