Thousands of mourners chanting “America is the Great Satan” yesterday marched in a funeral procession through Baghdad for Iran’s top general and Iraqi militant leaders who were killed in a US airstrike.
Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who headed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and mastermind of its regional security strategy, was killed in an airstrike early on Friday near the Iraqi capital’s international airport.
Iran has vowed harsh retaliation, raising fears of an all-out war.
Photo: AFP
US President Donald Trump said he ordered the strike to prevent a conflict.
His administration said that Soleimani was plotting a series of attacks that endangered US troops and officials, without providing evidence.
An official with the US-led coalition in Iraq said it has scaled back operations and boosted “security and defensive measures” at bases hosting coalition forces in the country.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity according to regulations.
Washington has dispatched another 3,000 troops to neighboring Kuwait.
Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s regional policy of mobilizing militias across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, including in the war against the Islamic State group. He was also blamed for attacks on US troops and allies going back to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The mourners, mostly men in black military fatigues, carried Iraqi flags and the flags of Iran-backed militias that are loyal to Soleimani. They were also mourning Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a senior Iraqi militia commander who was killed in the strike.
The procession began at the Imam Kadhim shrine in Baghdad, one of the most revered sites in Shiite Islam. Mourners marched in the streets alongside militia vehicles in a solemn procession.
The mourners, many of them in tears, chanted: “No, No, America,” and “Death to America, death to Israel.”
Mohammed Fadl, a mourner dressed in black, said the funeral is an expression of loyalty to the slain leaders.
“It is a painful strike, but it will not shake us,” he said.
Two helicopters hovered over the procession, which was attended by Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi and leaders of Iran-backed militias.
The gates to Baghdad’s Green Zone, which houses government offices and foreign embassies, including the US embassy, were closed.
As tensions soared across the region, there were reports overnight of an airstrike on a convoy of Iran-backed militia fighters north of Baghdad.
Hours later, the Iraqi army denied any airstrike had taken place. The US-led coalition also denied carrying out any airstrike.
The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Iran-backed militias, and security officials had reported the airstrike in Taji, north of the capital.
An Iraqi security official had said five people were killed and two vehicles were destroyed.
It was not immediately clear if another type of explosion had occurred.
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