Israeli diplomatic missions in the Western world and Turkey are likely to become targets of a wave of terrorist attacks masterminded by extremist Shi’ite groups in Lebanon, L’Express reported Thursday.
All Western intelligence agencies have been put on red alert, the French magazine reported.
L’Express said it had corroborating information from Lebanon that Israeli missions in the West and Turkey are targeted for large-scale attacks such as the car bomb blast that destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires on March 17, killing 30 people and injuring 252.
Similar attacks could be made in Ankara, Brussels or London by Shi’ite-influenced groups, L’Express said.
The Israeli Embassy in Brussels was in fact evacuated for two hours Tuesday because of what turned out to be a false alarm.
At least two dozen police, fire and military vehicles raced to the scene to investigate an aged red Ford Fiesta parked in front of the embassy.
Suspicion was aroused because the driver fled when security guards ordered him to move the vehicle.
It was a parked car loaded with TNT that wrecked the embassy in Buenos Aires.
The car in Brussels turned out to be harmless. The driver who retrieved it got a tongue-lashing from police for parking where he did.
Security at Israeli embassies around the world is usually tight. In Paris for example, the street off the Champs-Elysees on which the embassy is located is permanently sealed off by armed paramilitary police.
No cars are allowed unless they are duly registered in a police logbook kept at the entrance to the street. Pedestrians must show ID cards and inform the guards exactly where they intend to go and for what purpose.
(JTA correspondent Yossi Lempkowicz in Brussels contributed to this report.)
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