The Justice Department on Friday announced the arrest of Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, an Iraqi national who’s the terrorist commander of an Iran-backed group.
He was accused of planning three attacks across the US, with New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch stating that a Manhattan synagogue was one of the targets.
“This case puts into stark relief the global threats posed by the Iranian regime and its proxies like Kata’ib Hizballah—Foreign Terrorist Organizations that have repeatedly targeted Jewish communities across Europe and the United States since the war began. Working with our law enforcement partners, we disrupted a plot against a Manhattan synagogue, and in partnership with the synagogue’s leadership, ensured its security when the threat was elevated. The NYPD’s work in this case, from officers assigned to the JTTF, to intelligence analysis provided through our international liaison program, helped protect the streets of our city. The NYPD has the most robust municipal counterterrorism and intelligence capacity of any city in the world, which is only strengthened by our partnership with federal agencies on cases like this one,” Tisch said.
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Here’s all you need to know about Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi: 5 things to know
- Al-Saadi, 32, is a senior member of Kata’ib Hizballah, which has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US. He has been charged with six counts of terrorism-related offenses for his activities as an operative of Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
- Al-Saadi was transferred to US custody overseas. He allegedly ‘coordinated a wave of attacks across Europe, including bombings, arson, and assaults targeting American communities and interests’ as per Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. He stands accused of directing 18 terrorist attacks throughout Europe over just three months. Al-Saadi reportedly discussed attacking locations in New York, California, and Arizona.
- Al-Saadi worked closely with Qasem Soleimani, who was the longtime commander of the IRGC-QF before being killed during a US airstrike in or about 2020. He also worked with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, leader of Kata’ib Hizballah until he was killed in the same airstrike that killed Soleimani.
- Al-Saadi carried out attacks in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Skopje, North Macedonia and even London, United Kingdom. As per the DOJ release, he ‘directed and urged others to attack U.S. and Israeli interests and to kill Americans and Jews in the U.S. and abroad’. Al-Saadi also carried out two attacks in Canada in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, a component of Kata’ib Hizballah.
- Al-Saadi faces charges including (i) conspiring to provide material support to Kata’ib Hizballah, a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; (ii) conspiring to provide material support to the IRGC, a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; (iii) conspiring to provide material support for acts of terrorism of attempting and conspiring to murder nationals of the United States, and bombing and conspiring to bomb a place of public use, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison; (iv) providing material support for acts of terrorism, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison; (v) conspiring to bomb a place of public use, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; and (vi) attempted destruction of property by means of fire or explosive, which carries a mandatory minimum term of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, as per the DOJ release.
