Federal prosecutors on Monday announced the arrest of Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, an Iraqi national described as a senior member and commander of Kata’ib Hizballah, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, charging him with six terrorism-related counts for his alleged role in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks across Europe, the United States and Canada.
Al-Saadi, 32, was transferred into U.S. custody overseas and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan federal court, where he was ordered held pending trial, the Justice Department said.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Al-Saadi “directed and urged others to attack U.S. and Israeli interests and to kill Americans and Jews in the U.S. and abroad,” calling the charges evidence that American law enforcement “will never let such evil go unchecked.”
Prosecutors allege Al-Saadi worked closely with Qasem Soleimani, the longtime commander of the IRGC’s external operations force who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2020, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of Kata’ib Hizballah who died in the same strike. Following those deaths, according to the complaint, Al-Saadi called on others to attack and kill Americans in retribution.
Over a three-month span beginning in March 2026, Al-Saadi and associates allegedly planned, coordinated and claimed responsibility for at least 18 terrorist attacks across Europe under the banner of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, a component of Kata’ib Hizballah, as well as two additional attacks in Canada. The alleged attacks included an explosives attack against Bank of New York Mellon in Amsterdam in March 2026, an arson attack at a synagogue in Skopje, North Macedonia, in April 2026, and the stabbing of two Jewish men — including a dual U.S.-British citizen — in London on April 29, 2026, prosecutors said.
Domestically, Al-Saadi allegedly directed an undercover law enforcement officer whom he believed could carry out attacks in the United States to target a prominent Manhattan synagogue, a Jewish institution in Los Angeles and another in Scottsdale, Arizona, according to the complaint. Prosecutors said Al-Saadi texted the officer photographs and maps of each location and discussed whether to use an improvised explosive device or set the New York synagogue on fire. No attacks occurred.
Al-Saadi faces charges including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to bomb a place of public use, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The charges are allegations, and Al-Saadi is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
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