NEW YORK — Soon after the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, a string of attacks targeted Jewish sites in Europe.

An explosion hit a synagogue in Belgium, arsonists ignited a synagogue in the Netherlands, a bomb rocked a Jewish school in Amsterdam, four Hatzola ambulances were torched in London and a car was burned in a Jewish neighborhood in Antwerp, all during March.

A new group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) claimed credit. The group, whose name roughly translates to the Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, was unknown until then. Analysts and investigators suspected Iranian involvement, but law enforcement investigations had not publicly exposed any connection to Iran.

That changed this month, when US prosecutors in the federal Southern District of New York court connected Iran to the attacks in Europe and revealed plots targeting Jewish sites in the US. The investigation also shed light on the alleged motives and tactics of the attackers.

The complaint and an indictment on Thursday accused Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, an alleged member of the Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iraq-based, US-designated terrorist group aligned with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with plotting at least 18 attacks in Europe and two in Canada. Al-Saadi helped initiate the HAYI campaign, plotted its attacks and distributed its propaganda, prosecutors said.

Enmeshed in the ‘resistance’

Al-Saadi has relationships with the current leadership of the IRGC’s Quds Force and Kataeb Hezbollah, prosecutors said. Al-Saadi also posted photos on social media showing himself with the late IRGC general Qassem Soleimani, killed visiting Baghdad by a US airstrike in 2020, and other IRGC leaders.

The IRGC supports Kataeb Hezbollah, Hezbollah and other proxy groups with training, funding, weapons and intelligence to carry out its broader aim of “lethal action” against the US and its allies. The groups share the same ideology and are part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” prosecutors said, putting HAYI in the same network.

Al-Saadi, 32, was born in Tehran, but lived most of his life in Iraq. He is a dual citizen of Iran and Iraq. He was arrested while traveling in Turkey and extradited to the US in mid-May.

After his arrest, Al-Saadi waived his Miranda rights and explained his role to US law enforcement. Investigators obtained further information from Al-Saadi’s iPhone and social media accounts.

The evidence showed that Al-Saadi, attackers in Europe and Iran-linked operatives in the Middle East regularly shared messages and videos of their operations in the different countries, both........

© The Times of Israel