Hezbollah in Canada, Iran's Proxy

"Canada is by and large off the political radar screens of most of these groups [Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda offshoots]. It's hard to see al-Qaeda affiliates or terrorist movements abroad turning their sights on Ottawa specifically."
"But a Canadian urban centre might be the bull-eye of some disaffected Canadian who went the route of jihad and had the means to try violence. We've been there before in terms of the so-called Toronto 18 plot."
Wesley Wark, national security expert, University of Ottawa

"In the last five years or so, we've been leading in a lot of foreign policy issues. But leading has consequences and part of those consequences is that it puts us in the target zone."
"We've done a lot and said a lot about Iran at the most senior levels and that could potentially have a tipping point. It's an important threat. It's not, however, the most important threat. I wouldn't recommend government spend inordinate amounts of time looking at it."
Ray Boisvert, former head of counter-terrorism/ assistant director of intelligence, Canadian Security Intelligence Service

"They [Hezbollah] have it good here. They make lots of money, they get lots of weapons, they gain some political influence.
"Whereas [older Hezbollah] guys would argue, 'Canada is a good place, let's keep a low profile, let's not cause any real trouble', there's a new generation coming up that's hotter, angrier, more bloodthirsty and more influenced by what they see in Iraq and Syria, and they are more likely to strike out blindly [with] violence that isn't necessarily connected to a strategic objective."
Tom Quiggin, Ottawa terrorism expert

There are believed to be upwards of 200 exterior security cameras monitoring the perimeters of all federal buildings, pedestrian doors and assembly areas.
Wayne Cuddington / Ottawa Citizen

A 2013 risk assessment conducted by the federal Integrated Terrorist Assessment Centre appears to conclude that Canada's capital appeals to terrorist as a potential target; in specific Iranian-sponsored terrorism. The Islamic Republic of Iran is well enough known as a sponsor of terrorist groups, a government that incites to violence, one that is not averse to wreaking havoc anywhere it feels a right to raise the presence of avenging Islamism against the threat believed to be posed by the West.

Israel, seen as a symbol of the West, which imposed its presence within the Middle East as a poisonous irritant which threatens the Islamic character of the region, has been targeted both within the Middle East and in Europe and North America by Iran's proxy terror militia, Hezbollah. Hamas is perfectly capable of striking the West through Israel, and has done so repeatedly in its zeal to commence with its larger purpose of destroying the State of Israel.

Canada's support for Israel, as a democratic country sharing values with liberal democracies everywhere, has earned Canada its own special place in the regard of many in the Middle East. Canada's strained, to put it mildly, relationship with Iran has led to a complete diplomatic fissure of mutual antipathy with each country doing its best to blame the other for human rights violations; Canada with good reason, Iran because it will use any kind of slander as a weapon, however without merit.

The concern is, however, among the Canadian intelligence community, that Iran will not be satisfied with merely slinging arrows of aggrieved accusation at Canada, but will at some juncture salve its injured pride at exclusion and damnation by mounting violent attacks of one kind or another. In fact, because both Hamas and Hezbollah operatives and supporters are well ensconced within Canada, raising funds among sympathizers for their activities, just as they are throughout North America and Europe, such attacks are quite feasible

Hezbollah in particular, according to those familiar with its mission and its loyalty to Shiite Iran, is complicit with that country's 'resistance' to western involvement in the Middle East, the focal point there being the annihilation of Israel, and the eventual establishment of a revolutionary and expanded Shiite state in Lebanon with Iran as its model. Though its current focus has been in Syria and now in Iraq, at some future date it might conceivably send its jihad-induced martyrdom squads into North America and Europe.

blazingcatfur.blogspot.com

Page by Blazing Catfur - Updated: JDL "Gaza Fauxtilla" Counter Protest Video Toronto June 5

Their current fixation on fundraising, recruiting, equipment procurement and intelligence gathering within Canada likely compels them to refrain from overt violence through which their presence and activities would become more obvious and hazardous to their continued presence as a covert faction dedicated to infiltration and destabilization. For the time being, with Iran in quiet consultation with the United States over the meltdown in Iraq, and the question of its nuclear program still in question, matters will remain at a standstill.

"When there seemed a possibility that there would be no movement on negotiations and no thawing to any degree of the deadlock between Iran and the West, it raised the spectre of the possibility of some kind of western military strike against Iran to try and slow down or stop its nuclear program", explains Mr. Wark. "The reasonable calculation in that scenario would be that Iran would reach for whatever weapons it might have to strike back and one of those weapons would be Hezbollah and the possibility of using something like the al-Quds force.

"The whole spectacle of Iran launching proxy attacks in a certain scenario in which Iran itself is under attack, I think both elements of that story have gone away for now", he concludes. But his theory is less than convincing to others involved in the enabling and safeguarding of the security of Canada.