Singapore says Iran-backed militia chief who plotted antisemitic attacks sought entry in past

An Iraqi commander of the Iran-backed militia who allegedly plotted attacks against Jewish targets in Europe, Canada and the United States tried to enter Singapore on multiple occasions, the city-state’s security agency says.

Singapore says it would not have allowed Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi to enter the country. But it warned the case highlighted how conflicts in the Middle East could raise terrorism risks in Southeast Asia.

US prosecutors identified Al-Saadi in charges filed in May as a senior figure in Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi armed group designated by Washington as a terrorist organisation linked to the IRGC. According to US authorities, he directed and encouraged attacks on US and Israeli interests, and urged the killing of Americans and Jews in retaliation for the war against Iran.

In an annual terrorism threat assessment report, Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) says that Al-Saadi, who is in US custody awaiting trial, applied for visas to visit Singapore in 2023 and 2024.

“Baqer had applied for visas to visit Singapore on three separate occasions in 2023 and 2024, but did not eventually travel to Singapore,” the agency says.

The ISD says it believed Al-Saadi had travelled elsewhere in Southeast Asia during that period.

“Had he attempted to enter Singapore, he would have been denied entry,” it adds. “We do not discount the possibility that Baqer’s travel to this region could have been for terrorism purposes, and he could have set his sights on targeting Singapore, including US and Israeli/Jewish interests here.”

The agency says it is working with intelligence partners to investigate his activities.

Activities by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its network of armed proxies “have elevated the threat of terrorism beyond the immediate theatre of conflict in the Middle East,” it adds.