Thousands of Iraqis Shout "Death to America" ​​at General Soleimani's Funeral

Thousands of Iraqis gathered in Baghdad on Saturday January 4 for the funeral of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, his main lieutenant in Iraq, Abu Mehdi al-Mouhandis, and others killed in an American raid the previous day from the Iraqi capital airport.

The participants in this funeral procession, in the district of Kazimiya in Baghdad which shelters a Shiite sanctuary, also shouted "Vengeance for Abou Mehdi al-Mouhandis", operational chief of Hachd al-Chaabi, coalition of Shiite paramilitaries integrated into the security forces Iraqi.

In all, the American "precision shooting of a drone" which pulverized in the night of Thursday 2 to Friday 3 January the two cars in which were found Soleimani and Mouhandis left ten dead - five Iraqis and five Iranians.

The coffins of the five Iraqis were brought to Kazimiya on pick-ups topped with national flags and which split the crowd dressed entirely in black.

The bodies of the five Iranians were topped with the Iranian flag.

Some in the crowd held up portraits of the Iranian supreme guide Ali Khamenei, or of the Lebanese leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah who assures forming with Hashd the "axis of resistance" in the United States and in Israel in the Middle East, and who called for the "just punishment" of the "criminal murderers" responsible for the death of Soleimani.

After the Kazimiya Parade, an official national funeral will be held in the Green Zone of Baghdad in the presence of many Iraqi leaders.

A new American strike?

Earlier on Saturday, Hachd al-Chaabi said a new strike had targeted their base in Taji, north of the Iraqi capital, leaving six people dead and three seriously injured in a medical convoy. Iraqi state television attributed the new strike to the US military.

The Iraqi army, however, denied that such an attack had taken place and the Shiite coalition also reversed its claims: Hachd al-Chaabi announced in a statement that no medical convoy had been targeted.

The Washington-led anti-Islamic State coalition also denied on Saturday (January 4th) that it had carried out strikes near the Taji base. "FACT: The coalition has not conducted airstrikes near the Taji base in recent days," wrote a spokesperson on Twitter.

FACT: The Coalition @CJTFOIR did NOT conduct airstrikes near Camp Taji (north of Baghdad) in recent days.

The day before, it was an American "precision shot from a drone" which had plunged the whole world into uncertainty, raising fear "a new war in the Gulf" that "the world cannot afford", according to the United Nations (UN).

Also operated in the middle of the night, the American bombing had pulverized two cars that were leaving Baghdad airport. Inside, Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iranian strategy in the Middle East, and Abou Mehdi al-Mouhandis, the Iranian man in Baghdad, were killed instantly.

Iran pleads right to exercise self defense

Iran told the UN Security Council on Friday that it reserves the right to exercise self-defense under international law after the killings. In a letter, his representative to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi, writes that the assassination of Qassem Soleimani "is an obvious example of state terrorism and, as a criminal act, constitutes a flagrant violation of the fundamental principles of the international law and, in particular, those stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations ".

The escalation between Tehran and Washington continues, each believing that it is entitled to "defend itself". Trump said he ordered the elimination of Soleimani to "stop" a war and not to start one, saying that an attack on Americans was "imminent". "We are not looking for regime change" in Iran, he said.

The United States made its "biggest mistake" in killing Soleimani, warned the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s highest security body. "These criminals will face harsh revenge in the right place at the right time." Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rohani have also called for reprisals.

With AFP and Reuters

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