The United States terrorist forces assassinated General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s PMU in an attack at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday. The Pentagon said in a statement that US President Donald Trump had ordered the attack.
The assassination has triggered a wave of rage among both Iranians and Iraqis and forged an unprecedented unity amid vociferous pledges of revenge.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis chanting "Death to America" have joined the funeral procession for Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi anti-terror forces chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Political figures, including Abdul Mahdi, have condemned the attack, saying, the measure could spark a devastating war.
"The assassination of an Iraqi military commander is an aggression on Iraq as a state, government and people," Abdul Mahdi said in a statement.
"Carrying out physical liquidation operations against leading Iraqi figures or from a brotherly country on the Iraqi lands is a flagrant violation of Iraq's sovereignty and a dangerous escalation that triggers a destructive war in Iraq, the region and the world," he added.
Both Soleimani and Muhandis were popular figureheads in helping squelch an ominous rise of ISIL which once came as close as 30 km to Baghdad, while the US withdrew troops from Iraq and looked on.
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