DOJ Charges Kata'ib Hizballah Commander in Manhattan Synagogue Plot, Citing Attacks Across 2 Continents
Updated
Updated · Fox News · May 26
DOJ Charges Kata'ib Hizballah Commander in Manhattan Synagogue Plot, Citing Attacks Across 2 Continents
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · May 26
U.S. prosecutors unsealed charges against Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, alleging the Kata'ib Hizballah commander directed attacks on Jewish, Israeli and American targets, including a planned strike on a Manhattan synagogue.
The case says Al-Saadi used Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya as a front group, masking links to Kata'ib Hizballah, Hezbollah and Iran's IRGC while preserving deniability.
Mexican cartel-linked smuggling routes and criminal facilitators in the Western Hemisphere were allegedly part of the operational model, extending the network beyond the Middle East into North America.
The charges fit a longer pattern U.S. officials and investigators have tied to Iran-backed proxy activity in Latin America, including the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.
With Iran's leadership in chaos, are its decentralized terror networks now an even greater threat to the U.S. homeland?
Is the alliance between Iranian proxies and Mexican cartels creating a new hybrid threat on America's southern border?
How can security agencies stop state-sponsored terror plots that are disguised as ordinary gang violence and street crime?
2026 Global Terror Plot Foiled: How Iranian Proxies and "Gig-Economy" Tactics Targeted the West
Overview
On May 15, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department announced the arrest of Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, who was transferred into U.S. custody overseas and appeared in Manhattan federal court the same day. Al-Saadi faces six terrorism-related charges for his alleged role as an operative for Kata’ib Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), both designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. Authorities accuse him of being part of a global terror plot, highlighting direct links between these groups and recent attacks in the West, and underscoring the evolving threat of Iranian-backed proxy networks targeting Western interests.