Cdn Jewish group reacts calmly to claim Hezbollah eyeing targets outside Mideast

The ABC News report said Hezbollah had conducted surveillance on some Canadian Jewish sites.

Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, told The Canadian Press that there has been "chatter out there" since the assassination of a Hezbollah leader in February, but authorities have said there is nothing to lead them to believe there is any veracity to it.

"Our belief is that our federal authorities have things in hand," Farber said. "They've known about this alleged threat for a while, they've investigated it, and they've told me categorically that while the chatter is out there, and it has been for a while, there is nothing to lead them to believe that there's anything imminent or that in fact the chatter is real."

Farber also said, however, it is always better to be on the safe side "so we will ensure that our community institutions are alerted."

"They should keep an eye out, obviously. They should ramp up their security a bit just in case ..."

The ABC News report said U.S. and Canadian intelligence agencies warn of signs Hezbollah, backed by Iran, is poised to mount a strike against "Jewish targets" outside the Middle East.

ABC said intelligence officials told the network that the group has activated suspected "sleeper cells" in Canada and 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 Syria. The group's leaders blamed Israel, but Israeli officials denied it.

Officials told ABC that suspected Hezbollah operatives have conducted recent surveillance on the Israeli embassy in Ottawa and on several synagogues in Toronto.

Melisa Leclerc, chief of communications for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, said Thursday the government is vigilant to prevent any terrorist act at home and abroad.

"As you can appreciate, the minister cannot comment on operations that Canada's security agencies may or may not be undertaking."

The RCMP in Ottawa would neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of the ABC report and would not comment on whether it has any investigations under way. There was no immediate comment from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, nor from the Israeli embassy in Ottawa.

There is no credible information on a specific target, intelligence officials told ABC. Latin America is also considered a possible target.

ABC News said three U.S. law enforcement agencies say they have been briefed on the developments by intelligence agencies.

It reported that officials say the CIA and the National Security Agency in the United States 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," former CIA intelligence officer Bob Baer, who says he met with Hezbollah leaders in Beirut last month, told ABC.

ABC News quoted intelligence officials as telling the network that alarms were first raised in Canada, where it said 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." The members received instruction to send their family members home to Lebanon, ABC quoted officials as saying.

The network said 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 U.S. border.

Intelligence officials said the recent Hezbollah activities were being co-ordinated with the help of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Baer, the former CIA intelligence officer, said his Hezbollah contacts told him an attack against the U.S. was unlikely because Iran and Hezbollah did not want to give the Bush administration an excuse to attack.

U.S. officials said there is no credible information of a Hezbollah attack in the United States..

ABC said that according to officials Toronto is considered an important city for Hezbollah fundraising and organizing.

Canada has declared Hezbollah a terror group.

Authorities in Argentina formally blamed Hezbollah and Iran for attacks on a Jewish community center that killed 85 people in 1994. Twenty-nine people died in an attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 that was also blamed on Hezbollah and Iran.

As a political organization, Hezbollah, which means "Party of God," plays a significant role in Lebanese politics as the leading opposition force.

Founded in 1982, following Israel's invasion of Lebanon, the group came to represent Lebanon's Shiite population and has increased its power and influence in recent months.