ABOUT THE TERRORIST GROUP

Public Safety Canada: “One of the most technically capable terrorist groups in the world, Hezbollah is a radical Shia group ideologically inspired by the Iranian revolution. Its goals are the liberation of Jerusalem, the destruction of Israel and, ultimately, the establishment of a revolutionary Shia Islamic state in Lebanon, modelled after Iran.”

Source: Currently Listed Entities, Public Safety Canada.

Hezbollah: Hezbollah posted the following tribute to its assassinated chief terrorist, Imad Mugniyah, on its website last year. “They thought silencing him would do the trick. They thought wrong…. With every passing month he asks revenge. And with every passing year, they ask themselves when, where, and how they will taste his revenge.”

Source: moqawama.org,

CSIS: “The improved quantity, lethality and sophistication of its weapons systems have reinforced its dominance in semiindependent enclaves throughout the south of Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, where the authority of the Lebanese Armed Forces is severely restricted. In these areas, Hezbollah maintains training camps, engages in weapons smuggling and drug trafficking, and stocks thousands of rockets aimed at Israel to the south.”

Source: CSIS Annual Report, 2009-2010.

HEZBOLLAH’S “MOST SOPHISTICATED AND LETHAL” ATTACKS

April 1983 Car combing of U.S. embassy in Beirut kills 63.

October 1983 Truck bomb attack at U.S. Marine barracks kills 241 American military personnel. A second attack kills 58 at a French military compound.

June 1985 Hijacks a TWA flight and kills an American passenger.

February 1988 Kidnaps and kills a U.S. official serving with a UN truce monitoring mission.

March 1992 Bombs Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29.

July 1994 Bombs Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, killing 86.

February 2005 Assassinates former PM Rafiq Hariri with a massive bomb that also kills 23 bystanders.

July 2006 Crosses Lebanon’s southern border, kills three Israeli troops and kidnaps two others, triggering a month-long war with Israel that leaves about 1,200 dead, mostly Lebanese.

Source: “Hezbollah Intentions and Capabilities: Implications for Canada in 2010,” Intelligence Assessment, Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, June 10, 2010. SECRET.