Militia Commander Tied to Iran Plotted Attacks in U.S., Prosecutors Say
A commander of an Iraqi militia has been charged with plotting to attack Jewish sites in the United States, including a synagogue in New York, and carrying out attacks in Europe as part of a broader campaign of retaliation by Iran since the war began in February.
A criminal complaint unsealed on Friday accused the commander, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, of planning at least 20 attacks in Europe and Canada since late February. Mr. al-Saadi was detained in Turkey sometime recently and handed over to U.S. authorities, Mr. al-Saadi’s lawyer said in federal court in Manhattan on Friday.
Mr. al-Saadi, according to the complaint, is a commander of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militia that is a proxy for Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp and has helped Tehran project power across the region, including through attacks on American forces and diplomatic targets.
From its inception, the militia has been closely tied to Iran’s Quds Force — the overseas arm of the powerful Revolutionary Guards. It made evicting U.S. forces from Iraq a primary focus. Kataib Hezbollah’s repeated attacks on U.S. Army posts in Iraq and Syria over the years contributed to Washington’s decision in 2009 to designate it as a foreign terrorist organization.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/nyregion/hezbollah-arrest-nyc-jewish-targets.html