TL;DR
US authorities arrested Iraqi commander Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, linked to an Iranian-backed militia, for organizing 18 terrorist attacks in the UK, Europe, and Canada. His alleged operations include firebombings and attacks on Jewish targets.
The arrest by US authorities of an alleged Iraqi commander of an Iranian-backed militia group now accused of responsibility for 18 terrorist attacks in the UK, Europe and Canada since the beginning of the Iran war is an astonishing development – yet not the least bit surprising.
According to a complaint unsealed on Friday in a federal court in Manhattan, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi is allegedly responsible for organising – among other operations – a string of recent firebombings of banks and other targets in France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, an arson attack against a synagogue and a shooting at the US consulate in Toronto in March, as well as – most recently – a wave of attacks on mainly Jewish targets in the UK including places of worship and charities.
Most notably perhaps, al-Saadi, 32, is accused of involvement in the stabbing of two Jewish men in north London in April.
The detailed complaint provides no details of the London attack but cites recorded conversations between al-Saadi and an FBI informant and an undercover FBI agent, in which he appeared to have referred to operations in Europe while trying to set up new attacks on Jewish targets in the US.
Al-Saadi also allegedly posted claims of responsibility for attacks on Snapchat and Telegram in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI), a supposed Islamist militant group, the complaint said. He was reportedly detained in Turkey, though the details are unclear.
In a development few observers anticipated, the individual allegedly responsible for a wave of frightening if nonlethal violence across a dozen countries is now in solitary confinement in a federal jail in Brooklyn.
That a senior official in an Islamist militia in Iraq – which was formed and supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – is the prime suspect is also no huge revelation for investigators and analysts. It has long been suspected that the IRGC – more specifically its Quds Force, which specialises in clandestine operations overseas – was responsible for the attacks that have caused concern and fear in recent weeks.
Iran has a long history of such unconventional operations, all designed to divert, distract and destabilise current or potential enemies. For decades, Tehran’s key tactic had been to work through loyal proxies overseas – or those the proxies themselves can recruit. This provides several layers of cover obscuring the original instigator of the violence.
One clue indicating IRGC involvement was that HAYI was unknown before the war in Iran, appearing for the first time in early March on social media channels associated with Iran-backed Islamist militia in Iraq. Its posts claiming responsibility or showing imagery of attacks were made so soon after each operation that it was clear their author was very close to whoever had organised them – possibly even the same individual. Some posts appeared before attacks, suggesting targets that were then hit.