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Thousands of Iraqis, including senior politicians, attended the funeral
of a top Iranian general and Iraqi militiamen in Baghdad on Saturday,
following a U.S. airstrike that sharply escalated tensions across the
region.
The attack near Baghdad airport killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander
of Iran’s elite Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, the deputy head
of Iraq’s Muslim Shiite militia Hashd al-Shaabi, along with six other
Iran-allied militiamen.
On Saturday, the bodies of those killed in the strike were carried
inside caskets onto military vehicles in a funeral procession led by
Iraqi militiamen holding the Iraqi flag and banners of militias backed
by Iran.
Iraq’s caretaker prime minister, Adel Abdel-Mahdi, and Hadi al-Amiri, a senior leader in Hashd al-Shaabi, were in attendance.
Angry mourners chanted anti-U.S. slogans such as “Death to America!” and called for revenge.
Others raised placards reading: “We all are Soleimani and al-Mohandes.”
Iraqi army helicopters flew overhead as part of tight security.
Authorities had deployed hundreds of security personnel and closed main
streets in the capital for the funeral, witnesses said.
The bodies are to be flown later Saturday to the holy Shiite provinces
of Karbala and Najaf in southern Iraq for similar funeral processions,
according to Iraqi media.
Afterwards, the slain Iraqi militiamen are to be buried in a major
Shiite cemetery in Najaf, while the body of Soleimani will be flown to
Iran for burial in his hometown, the reports said.
Soleimani was considered one of Iran’s most influential military
leaders, wielding influence in Iraq, Syria, and other parts of the
Middle East where Iran has a foothold.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has threatened the U.S.
with “harsh retaliation” for his killing, while U.S. President Donald
Trump defended his decision to order the deadly strike by saying he had
taken action “to stop a war.”
Iraqi President Barhan Salih on Saturday called for regional and
international cooperation to defuse tensions, state news agency INA
said.
He made his appeal during a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The Turkish president confirmed his interest in Iraq’s stability,
unity, sovereignty, and independence and preventing Iraq from turning
into an arena for regional and international conflicts,” Salih’s office
said in a statement.
The U.S. nonetheless braced for retaliation, as Washington called on American citizens to depart Iraq “immediately.”
On Saturday, Britain also warned its citizens against travel to Iraq or Iran.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have escalated since Trump
withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and reinstated U.S.
sanctions in what his administration calls a “maximum pressure campaign.
The Iraqi army on Saturday denied a report by Hashd al-Shaabi that an
unidentified airstrike had targeted overnight a group of medics
affiliated with the powerful militia in the area of Taji, north of
Baghdad.
“The Joint Operations Command denies reports circulated by some media
about such an air raid,” the army said in a statement, carried by Iraq’s
official news agency.
The U.S.-led military coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq
meanwhile said in a tweet it had not conducted airstrikes in Taji.
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