(JNS) Brazilian security forces, in co-operation with Israel’s Mossad national intelligence agency, foiled an attack on Jewish and Israeli targets by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group, the Israeli prime minister’s office has announced.

In a statement from Jerusalem, the Mossad thanked Brazil’s security forces “for the arrest of a terrorist cell that acted on behalf of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah”.

That cell was “controlled and financed” by Iran, Israeli intelligence suggests.

The Folha de São Paulo newspaper quoted local police as saying Hezbollah attempted to recruit Brazilian citizens to carry out attacks against the Brazilian Jewish community.

Two individuals were reportedly apprehended in São Paulo, which is home to 50,000 Jews, or about half of the country’s Jewish population. One suspect was arrested at São Paulo’s international airport after having just landed from Lebanon, added the report.