Threats Aimed At Western Diplomats

"There's been an increase in threats from ISIS-aligned terrorists to Western interests in Egypt."
"With the changing nature of threats and the evolving security posture of our allies, Canada's mission becomes an even more attractive target. Canadian diplomats are currently working from an alternate location."
"The ability to provide consular services may occasionally be limited for short periods due to unsettled security conditions."
Government of Canada diplomatic source

"We take the safety of our personnel and our mission overseas very seriously. We are monitoring events closely and taking appropriate security measures. We don't comment publicly on security precaution specifics at our missions."
"As a security precaution, and to ensure the protection of Canadian staff, we have closed our embassy in Cairo for the day."
Adam Hodge, spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird

An Egyptian policeman stands guard outside the Canadian embassy in Cairo Monday after Canada joined Britain in closing its embassy in the Egyptian capital to the public for security reasons, with neither country providing details about specific threats. The move comes amid increasing attacks by militants in Egypt. Ahmed Sayed/AFP/Getty Images

Canada closed its embassy permanently for the originating source within the Middle East of danger to Western diplomatic missions. At the same time, Canada invited the Islamic Republic of Iran to vacate its presence within Canada. Canada's patience with the manipulatively intrusive measures undertaken by Iran's representatives to undermine security and propagate false intentions positioning itself to persuade volunteers among its expatriates to infiltrate the government, had finally come to an end.

Exacerbated by Iran's activities in support of violence and terrorist activities through its launching of attacks abroad by its Republican Guard agents and its Lebanese-based terrorist militias of Hezbollah, along with its horrific human rights abuses at home, Canada saw no utility in maintaining a diplomatic presence in a country that legitimized assaults against diplomatic foreign missions, beginning with their 1979 Iranian Revolution attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

The standoff between revolutionary Iran under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the U.S. saw 52 American diplomatic personnel held in captivity for 444 days. There were additional attacks on American embassies, notably in Lebanon when that country was at war with itself and Syria and Iran and Israel all occupied various parts of the country, marking the evolution of Hezbollah under Iranian tutelage into a martyrdom movement of jihadist terror.

The embassy of the United Kingdom, threatened as well, and situated near the Canadian embassy in Cairo, was closed a day earlier following "reports of possible targets in Cairo", according to Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs Baird. Three Egyptian security officials reported suspected militants who had been arrested recently "revealed plans to target the embassies, abduct foreign nationals and assassinate public figures."

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Champions of Jerusalem), formed several years ago to target Israel, with links to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestianian terror group Hamas refocused its attention on Egyptian security forces with the removal of Mohammed Morsi, president under the Brotherhood. That terrorist group had taken credit for bombing Egyptian police headquarters in Cairo.

"In February 2014, ABM expanded its targets to include foreign tourists, and claimed responsibility for the bombing of a tour bus in the Sinai Peninsula, killing the Egyptian driver and three South Korean tourists", according to the U.S. State Department. Speaking in admiration and support of Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis spoke of its presence as the "emergence of a new dawn".

In attacking Westerners they are responding to the call for attacks -- against Canadians to retaliate for Ottawa's decision to join the international U.S.-led anti-ISIS military coalition -- by ISIS spokesman Abu Bakr al-Adnani.

The growing threat of fanatical Islamism with its jihadist thrust and antagonism toward the West emanated with the Iranian Revolution, and the irony of Shiite Iran now joining with Iraq, Syria and Lebanon/Hezbollah to battle Sunni ISIS, which grew out of the same sacred mission to elevate Islam and conquer the West, has few parallels.