Iraqi militia head charged for plotting attacks on Jewish targets in Europe and US

The US Justice Department is pressing terrorism-related charges against a senior Iraqi militia commander accused of targeting Jewish and American sites across Europe and the United States, after he was arrested earlier this month.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed yesterday an eight-count indictment against Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a 32-year-old dual Iranian-Iraqi national and alleged operative of the Iranian-backed Kataeb Hezbollah group and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Authorities allege he participated in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks in the name of the terror group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya.

Attacks linked to al-Saadi include arson against a synagogue in North Macedonia, the stabbing of two Jewish men last month in London’s Golders Green, the bombing of a Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam in mid-March and a thwarted bomb attack on a Bank of America office in Paris on March 28.

If convicted on the most serious charges, Al-Saadi could face life in prison.

Authorities say evidence recovered from Al-Saadi’s phone includes communications with members of Kataeb Hezbollah, videos of attacks in Europe and images of meetings with senior Iranian-backed militia figures, including slain IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.

Al-Saadi worked closely with senior leaders of Kataeb Hezbollah and Iran’s IRGC and helped coordinate what prosecutors described as a campaign of “psychological warfare” through propaganda videos and terror attacks in Europe, according to the indictment.