Hezbollah may turn to international terrorism following the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, a senior expert has warned.
The Lebanese terrorist group, which has a long presence in Canada, has lost many of its leaders in recent Israeli attacks.
Its headquarters were destroyed last week and they are “disintegrating,” said Matthew Levitt, author of Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon’s Party of God.
“One of the concerns is that if this group can’t attack borders, they may turn to increased acts of international terrorism,” Levitt said in an interview.
“One concern is that supporters around the world, who are angry at the loss of Nasrallah, can attack each other.”
The fall of the powerful Iranian-backed militant group will also be felt in Canada, where Hezbollah has been active since the 1990s.
Members of Hezbollah’s global network have lost their lines of communication and are likely to fear Israel’s actions, former intelligence chief Andrew Kirsch said.
The former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said Hezbollah supporters may “take it upon themselves.”
But he said Canadian police are “extremely vigilant.”
Inspired by the Iranian revolution, Hezbollah was founded in 1982 in response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, and has been at odds with its southern neighbor ever since.
With the support of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah became what the Canadian government called “one of the most capable terrorist groups in the world.
It also created a global network to mobilize supporters and carry out attacks around the world.
Canadian Hezbollah members have been involved in many attacks. They include a Vancouver man wanted in a bus explosion in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists and a local driver.
Get daily world news
Get the day’s top news, politics, economics, and current affairs, delivered to your inbox once a day.
Another, former Toronto businessman Fawzi Ayub, was a criminal and member of the Hezbollah Islamic Jihad wing who was killed fighting in Syria in 2014.
Although Hezbollah has never attacked Canada, an employee was caught in 2017 collecting security information at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.
Hezbollah wanted to be ready “in case there was a problem with Canada,” a member, Mohamed Hussein Al Husseini, told CSIS in the early 1990s.
But Canada in particular is a “facilitating and fundraising destination” for the terrorist group, says a 2020 report by the federal government’s Joint Terrorism Research Center.
While Iran provides most of Hezbollah with funds and weapons, it also relies on “many material supporters,” according to Canada’s Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center.
“These people operate in many countries inside and outside the Middle East, including Canada,” FITRAC wrote in a 2018 report.
“In many cases, these people are not directly connected to the official Hezbollah structures, and they run successful businesses that carry out legitimate commercial activities. Some of the resources generated by these businesses, however, end up being diverted to support Hezbollah’s legitimate activities.”
Hezbollah also “maintains a global network of charities, non-profit organizations and other organizations sympathetic to its cause. These organizations exist in countries around the world, including Canada,” it said.
Besides ISIS, Hezbollah was the most frequently identified terrorist group in FINTRAC’s monitoring of money flows, with the majority of funds going to Lebanon.
“Funds suspected of supporting Hezbollah were often sent to or received by individuals/companies identified as motor vehicle dealers or listed in the motor vehicle industry,” FINTRAC wrote in 2022.
The group also used Canada to buy equipment. In Vancouver, CSIS investigated a cell that bought night vision goggles and other gear for a Hezbollah procurement agent in Lebanon.
“Hezbollah has long maintained an active effort to buy into Canada,” wrote Levitt, a former US counterterrorism official, in his book on Hezbollah.
“Not only does this group have a large number of members, supporters and sympathizers in Canada, but the country’s strong position in industry, trade and finance makes it an attractive place to buy second-hand equipment.”
Israel launched its latest attack against Hezbollah on September 17, when it detonated explosives planted among thousands of pagers issued to members.
That was followed by a series of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah leadership in southern Lebanon and Beirut. Nasrallah’s death was confirmed on Saturday.
The Israeli government defended its actions as a defense against Hezbollah rockets, which have increased since the October 7 attack by Hamas, forcing the evacuation of northern parts of Israel.
Toronto police would not say whether they have increased security in the city because of Nasrallah’s killing.
But a police spokeswoman said police are “constantly monitoring global events and their impact on our communities.”
“While we do not comment on specific security measures, we remain in close contact with our community partners and will increase our presence where necessary to ensure public safety.”
Kirsch said police were already keeping a close eye on possible threats to the Canadian Jewish community, which has been targeted several times this past year, with attacks on schools and other institutions in BC, Quebec and Ontario.
“They are very sympathetic to the concerns of the Jewish community,” he said of the police.
“As I get closer to the annual celebration of Oct. 7, and this is still going on, and the escalation in parts of the Middle East, I think everybody is on edge.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca