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An Iraqi militia commander has been taken into US custody on charges of orchestrating nearly 20 terrorist attacks across Europe targeting Americans and Jews since the US-Iran war began in February.

Getting into it: According to federal prosecutors, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, is a commander of Kataib Hezbollah who directed a wave of attacks across Europe starting March 9 in retaliation for the US and Israeli military campaign against Iran. The attacks (which prosecutors allege he coordinated under the pseudonym Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya) targeted synagogues, Jewish institutions, and American companies across Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, the UK, and North Macedonia.

The attacks include:

• Synagogue in Liège, Belgium hit with explosives on March 9
• Synagogue in Rotterdam, Netherlands hit by arson on March 13
• Jewish school in Amsterdam hit with explosives on March 14
• Bank of New York Mellon in Amsterdam attacked with explosives
• Bank of America in Paris attacked with explosives
• Two Jewish men stabbed and seriously injured in London on April 29

Prosecutors also allege al-Saadi turned his focus to the United States. According to the criminal complaint, he spoke with an FBI undercover playing a Mexican cartel hitman and provided photographs and maps of Jewish institutions in New York City, Los Angeles, and Scottsdale, Arizona. In an April phone call, he allegedly inquired on what it would take to pay someone to bomb the three sites. Al-Saadi allegedly fronted $3,000 in crypto, with another $7,000 owed on delivery for a planned attack on a Manhattan synagogue, demanding it happen on April 6.

When no attack materialized, he reportedly texted the agent the next morning demanding to know what went wrong. Al-Saadi was then arrested in Turkey and transferred to US custody. As of Friday, a federal judge in Manhattan ordered him to be held without bail during his arraignment.

In a statement, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said, “This case puts into stark relief the global threats posed by the Iranian regime and its proxies like Kata’ib Hizballah. 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.”