BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) – Thousands of supporters of an Iraqi armed alliance commemorated the second anniversary of a US drone strike that killed a revered Iranian commander and his Iraqi lieutenant on Saturday.
Hashed al-Shaabi supporters chanted “Death to America” as they gathered in a Baghdad square to pay tribute to Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, who oversaw the Quds Force, Iran’s foreign operations arm, until his death on January 3, 2020.
The drone strike near Baghdad airport in the middle of the night sent shockwaves throughout the region, raising worries that decades of animosity between Washington and regional Shiite power Tehran would escalate into a direct military conflict.
One banner at the event, held by supporters of the pro-Iranian Hashed, a Shiite former paramilitary coalition that has been absorbed into Iraq’s state security establishment, stated, “US terrorism must end.”
The strike on Soleimani, Iran’s Middle Eastern military strategist, was ordered by then-US President Donald Trump, who also killed his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Hashed’s deputy head.
According to an AFP correspondent, Hashed supporters marched onto a traffic-free square in central Baghdad, some with their children.
Some waved large white banners bearing the Hashed symbol and the Iraqi national flag, while others clutched photographs of Soleimani and Muhandis.
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