Millions March to Honor General Soleimani

EghtesadOnline: Millions of Iranian mourners marched the streets of the southwestern city of Ahvaz and the holy city of Mashhad in the northeast to commemorate the martyrdom of top commander, Major General Qasem Soleimani.

News ID: ۷۸۵۲۲۷

07 January 2020

Soleimani, the head of Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, was killed in an airstrike by the United States in the Iraqi capital on Friday, along with the Iraqi militia leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, IRNA reported.

The tragic assassination was carried out on the order of US President Donald Trump who accused him of preparing to attack Americans in Iraq and the Middle East in future, Financial Tribune reported.

Elaborate funeral processions were held in Baghdad, moving to the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf, where thousands of Iraqis mourned the martyrdom of the two men.

Muhandis and the other Iraqis killed were laid to rest in Najaf, but Soleimani's body was flown to the city of Ahvaz in the southwestern province of Khuzestan that borders Iraq where a tide of mourners flooded the streets and wept in homage to the hero of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and a key figure in defeating the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group.

The body was then transferred to the northeastern city of Mashhad, to be also received by millions of mourners who chanted "Death to America".

It is set to be moved to Tehran for a funeral on Monday, before being transferred to his hometown Kerman in southeast Iran for burial on Tuesday.