US charges Iraqi with plots to target Jews in cities from London to LA

A commander of an Iraqi militia has been arrested for his alleged role in planning more than a dozen terrorist attacks in North America and Europe, which prosecutors allege was in retaliation for the Iran war. Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, was plotting an attack on a New York City synagogue, and two Jewish institutions in Los Angeles, California, and Scottsdale, Arizona, say prosecutors. He is charged with six terrorism-related counts, according to a criminal complaint. His lawyer says he is facing "political prosecution". Saadi is allegedly a commander in Kataib Hezbollah, a US-designated foreign terrorist organisation operating in Iraq with ties to Iran. An Iraqi national, he was taken into custody in Turkey before being turned over to the FBI and transported to the US. He appeared in Manhattan federal court and was detained pending trial. He "directed and urged others to attack US and Israeli interests", in retaliation for the Iran war and to "further the terrorist goals of Kata'ib Hizballah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps", the justice department said in court papers. The charges allege he has been involved in "the planning, execution and promotion" of some