AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Had it not been for sacrifices that Martyrs Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Muhandis made, Pope could not be in Iraq today, according to an aide to the speaker of the Iranian parliament on Friday.
"As arriving in Baghdad, Pope Francis was unable to do so w/safety & convinence, w/o sacrifice of al-Muhandis, M.J. Soleimani & counter-terror, -Daesh martyrs in #Iraq & across region," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iranian Parliament Speaker’s Special Aide for International Affairs wrote in a post on his Twitter account after the Catholic Pope Francis arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on an official visit on Friday.
This is the Pope's first foreign visit in 15 months and it comes as part of a move to preserve Iraq’s ancient Christian communities and support the return of the Christians who were driven out by ISIL terrorist
The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qods Force, General Qassem Soleimani along with the commander of Iraqi Hashd al-Shabi Abu Mahdi- al-Muhanids were assassinated in a drone attack conducted by the US forces near Baghdad airport in Iraq in January 2020.
In response, Iran has called for the expulsion of the US troops from Iraq in addition to conducting a barrage of missile airstrikes on the Ain Asad US base in Iraqi al-Anbar province in retaliation. Furthermore, in the aftermath of the attack, the Iraqi parliament approved a bill to expel foreign troops from Iraqi soil which has not been fulfilled by the Iraqi government yet.
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source : Mehr News
Saturday
6 March 2021
4:21:38 AM
1120950
Martyr Soleimani, al-Muhandis' sacrifices made Pope's Iraq visit possible
Had it not been for sacrifices that Martyrs Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Muhandis made, Pope could not be in Iraq today, according to an aide to the speaker of the Iranian parliament on Friday.