Martyrdom of Gen. Soleimani, al-Muhandis marked in Iraq's Najaf

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Ceremony on the first martyrdom anniversary of former Qods Force commander Lt General Qasem Soleimani and commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was held in the central Iraqi city of Najaf Ashraf on Saturday evening.

Supreme Leader's Representative in Iraq Mojtaba Hosseini, Iran's Ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi and a large number of Ulema, clerics and officials of the neighboring country were present in the ceremony.

Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Qods Force commander Lieutenant General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the acting commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) - known as the Hashd al-Shaabi - separately leaving Baghdad airport in two motorcades were targeted in a US terrorist attack on January 3, 2020.

At the ceremony, the participants spoke separately about aspects of characters of both martyrs.

They said that Gen Soleimani's and al-Muhandis' combat against terrorism and enemies' plots will continue.

Appreciating the two martyrs for their fight against terrorist group of Daesh (ISIS) to liberate the Iraqi soil, the participants stressed the need to expel the US forces from Iraq according to approval of the Iraqi Parliament.

When US forces assassinated Gen. Soleimani, Chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri said soon after that Iran's response to any new wickedness from the US will be stronger and more crushing.

Baqeri made the remarks in January, 2020, talking about the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' (IRGC) proportionate reciprocity operation carried out to target the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq in response to the US assassination of the IRGC Qods Force commander, Lt Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

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