Good morning. Whenever tensions flare up between the U.S. and Iran, there is speculation and anxiety over the possibility of sleeper cells being activated in countries like Canada. We'll get into how likely that is. Then, we'll look at the situation at a border crossing between Lebanon and Syria as the war continues, and hear from the CBC Indigenous team on their years-long access-to-information journey.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
(Tomer Appelbaum/Reuters)
|
|
Iran strikes Israel and Gulf Arab states even as Trump says U.S. is in talks to end war
|
|
|
Smoke rose from central Tel Aviv as Iranian missiles and drones hit Israel and Gulf Arab states Tuesday, even as U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. was in talks with Tehran to end the war.
What's happening: Trump also delayed a deadline for Iran to open the strategic Strait of Hormuz for shipping or see its power stations targeted by airstrikes, briefly driving down oil prices and boosting stocks.
Why it matters: The delay offered a reprieve after the U.S. and Iran traded threats over the weekend of strikes that could have cut electricity to millions in Iran and around the Gulf and knocked out desalination plants that provide many desert nations with drinking water, while raising fears of possible catastrophe if nuclear plants were hit.
But any information on the talks described by Trump remain in dispute with Iran, which denied any talks had been held.
– The Associated Press |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FEATURED STORIES
|
|
|
 |
(Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press)
|
|
|
Are Iranian 'sleeper cells' a threat to Canadians? Here’s what intelligence experts say
|
|
|
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has stoked fears that Tehran could activate dormant agents abroad to conduct terror plots.
What's happening: While politicians like Ontario's Doug Ford have said there may sleeper cells in Canada, counterterrorism experts say the threat is largely overstated. Deploying covert agents isn't the modus operandi of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Canada, said Dan Stanton of the University of Ottawa.
Why it matters: That doesn't mean threats are non-existent — they just tend to be more targeted, aimed at regime-critical public figures both in government and in the diaspora. That has included Irwin Cotler, a former Canadian justice minister and outspoken critic of the regime. The RCMP told him in 2024 that they had foiled Iranian agents' plot to kill him. The IRGC also uses dissidents' families, still in Iran, to silence or punish them, said Thomas Juneau of the University of Ottawa. In all, experts say, lone wolves with a range of potential motives and affiliations are more likely to be behind acts of violence here than deep-cover sleeper cells.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Syrians fleeing Israeli strikes in Lebanon return home to a country still rebuilding
|
|
|
At a border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, buses and cars are packed with families trying to flee intense Israeli bombardment and fighting in Lebanon. Some of them told CBC News their stories.
What's happening: Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war after the Iran-backed and Lebanon-based Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2. Israel has in turn intensified airstrikes across Lebanon. Many people were fasting for the holy month of Ramadan when they arrived at the border, weak and exhausted.
Why it matters: Lebanon has about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, meaning it has the most refugees per capita in the world. Syria, meanwhile, is still rebuilding after the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024. Some 1.3 million Syrian refugees from around the world have returned home since then, with the current Middle East war sure to push that number even higher. One Syrian woman leaving Lebanon said she had been living there for two years after fleeing civil war in her home country. "We escaped one war and came back to another war," she said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
