News
U.S. authorities accused Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a commander in the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia, of planning attacks against Jewish sites in New York, Los Angeles, and Scottsdale, in a case NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said targeted the heart of the city’s Jewish community.
Details:
• Al-Saadi chose a synagogue in Manhattan and other Jewish sites, including targets in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Arizona.
• Prosecutors say he offered $10,000 in cryptocurrency for bombings and fires, and paid $3,000 to an undercover officer he believed was a member of a Mexican cartel.
• According to authorities, Al-Saadi wanted the attack recorded to send a message to a congregation that supported Israel’s right to exist.
• Al-Saadi appeared in federal court in Manhattan after being detained in Turkey and handed over to the United States. He did not enter a plea, and another hearing was set for May 29.
• Tisch linked the case to an extraordinary threat environment in New York, amid a rise in antisemitic incidents since the October 7 attacks and the wars that followed in Gaza and Iran.
• New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the alleged plot, saying antisemitism, violent extremism, and terrorism have no place in the city.
• Iraqi-American blogger Steven Nabil adds that Al-Saadi was not a new name to him, saying he had received threats from him since 2019 over his coverage of Kataib Hezbollah attacks on Iraqi protesters.
• If Al-Saadi cooperates with investigators, the case could expose funding routes, intermediaries, cells, and chains of command between Tehran and its proxies beyond Iraq.
What next?
The May 29 hearing will define the direction of the case: an alleged attack plot against Jewish targets inside America, or a wider opening into the networks of Iran-backed militias abroad.
