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U.S. authorities on Friday charged a senior member of the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataeb Hezbollah over alleged involvement in 18 attacks across Europe and two in Canada targeting Jewish people and Israeli-linked sites.
According to court filings, the attacks included the April 29 stabbing of two Jewish men in London, arson attacks targeting synagogues, Jewish schools and Israeli businesses in Amsterdam and Munich, and the March 10 shooting at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, where no injuries were reported.
Prosecutors identified the suspect as Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, 32, a senior Kataeb Hezbollah figure. Washington designates the militia as a foreign terrorist organization affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Authorities alleged that Al-Saadi helped coordinate attacks tied to the group and encouraged violence against Americans and Jews following the conflict involving Iran. Investigators said the attacks were meant to retaliate against recent U.S.-Israeli military operations and pressure both countries to halt their actions.
Prosecutors also accused Al-Saadi of planning attacks inside the United States, including plots targeting a synagogue in New York and Jewish centers in California and Arizona. Authorities alleged that he paid an undercover U.S. agent a $3,000 advance for the planned New York operation before an arrest warrant was issued.
Al-Saadi appeared in federal court in Manhattan on Friday facing six charges, including conspiracy to provide material support to Kataeb Hezbollah and Iran’s IRGC, along with terrorism and bombing-related offenses.
Kataeb Hezbollah has repeatedly claimed attacks on American targets across the Middle East and was previously blamed by Washington for a December 2020 rocket attack on an Iraqi base housing U.S. troops that killed one person.
The Iran-aligned militia later became one of the most active armed groups targeting U.S. military and diplomatic sites in Iraq and Syria during periods of regional escalation.
The group also drew international attention after the March 2026 abduction of American journalist Shelly Kittleson in Baghdad during the height of the Iran war, before she was released days later following negotiations involving Iraqi authorities.
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