Today, Sunday, thousands of protesters in Baghdad commemorated the first anniversary of the killing of the Iranian military commander, Qassem Soleimani, and the leader of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in an American air strike, and the Lebanese Hezbollah also revived this occasion in gatherings held in several regions in Lebanon.

This comes in light of regional tension and warnings and mutual accusations between the United States and Israel on the one hand, and Iran and its allies on the other hand, during the last days of the administration of US President Donald Trump.

Crowds of supporters of the Iraqi Shiite factions chanted slogans against the United States, and the demonstrators who gathered in Tahrir Square (central Baghdad) waved Iraqi flags and the banners of the Popular Mobilization Forces, and raised pictures of Soleimani and the engineer.

The demonstrators flocked to participate in the demonstration that began this afternoon, under tight security measures, and a massive deployment of military, security, intelligence and PMF forces.

The Al-Jazeera correspondent said that the demonstration - which was called by the Popular Mobilization Authority - demanded the implementation of the Iraqi parliament’s decision to expel foreign forces - especially American forces - from the country.

The Iraqi authorities declared this day an official holiday, and the General Traffic Directorate closed the roads and intersections leading to Tahrir Square, banned the movement of cars there, and only allowed the arrival of the demonstrators, who raised pictures of the engineer and Soleimani, as well as banners and flags of Iraq and armed factions.

In a simulation of a funeral procession, dozens of people joined a march on the highway leading to Baghdad airport on Saturday evening.

To commemorate the memory.

The marchers raised pictures of Soleimani and the engineer and lit candles, while others gathered in the vicinity of the operation site, where the traces of shrapnel were still visible on the asphalt and walls.

The commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Authority, were killed on January 3 of last year in an American strike by a drone that targeted their convoy at Baghdad airport.

In a speech on this anniversary, the head of the Popular Mobilization Authority in Iraq, Faleh al-Fayyad, said that retribution for the killers of Soleimani and the engineer would be to implement the parliament’s decision to remove foreign forces from Iraq.

For his part, the head of the “Al-Fateh Alliance,” Hadi Al-Ameri, said that it is necessary to support those who described it as resistance, and to confront what he called the projects of arrogant hegemony.

No storming of the American embassy

On the other hand, the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades said that "there is still time", and that it will not enter the US embassy in Baghdad, stressing that it is not allowed to "tamper with" its weapons.

The Secretary-General of the Brigades, Abu Hussein Al-Hamidawi, said - in a press statement - today that "our presence today in the field is a message of authorization; to hasten revenge, for our blood is still boiling."

Al-Hamidawi added that there will be no storming of the US embassy today, and this government will not be overthrown, as there is still time.

He continued, "Our weapons are more disciplined and organized than the most prestigious armies and military institutions throughout history, and it is the most legitimate and rational one, and it will remain in our hands until God wills, and we will not allow anyone - whoever he is - to tamper with this weapon, which preserved the land and honor and preserved blood."

Commemoration in Lebanon

On the other hand, the Lebanese Hezbollah commemorated the killing of Soleimani and the engineer with a celebration in the border town of Maroun al-Ras (south of the country), in the presence of a number of representatives of the Lebanese parties and Palestinian factions.

The party has also conducted similar activities in a number of regions in the south and in the Bekaa (eastern Lebanon).

Members of Hezbollah participate in the memorial of the killing of Soleimani and the engineer in the town of Khiam, southern Lebanon (Reuters)

The party’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, gave a televised speech, in which he defended the party’s commemoration of this anniversary and its celebration of Soleimani and al-Muhandis.

Nasrallah said that when Iran decides to respond militarily and by security, it will respond, and it will not ask its friends or allies to do so.

And he believed that Iran provides the resistance factions with weapons in order to defend its people, not Iran, he said.

Israeli operations

On the other hand, Israeli security sources said that the political leadership in Israel has recently approved military and security operations, carried out by the Israeli army at various levels.

The Israeli website Walla quoted those sources as saying that Iran is still planning to launch an attack to avenge the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, despite the high-level military coordination between Israel and the United States in the Middle East.

The sources added that the security services, with their various branches, continue to be alert and vigilant, in anticipation of any Iranian attack against Israeli targets.

For his part, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz indicated - in statements to the official radio today, Sunday - the accusations of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Israel that it is trying to deceive the United States into launching a war on his country, describing these accusations as "nonsense."

Steinitz added that it is Israel that needs to be on alert in anticipation of a possible Iranian strike on the first anniversary of Soleimani's killing.

He also said that the Israeli army is ready to face any attack that might be carried out by militias loyal to Iran, adding that "Israel's hand is on the trigger, because Iran is targeting it with its accusations and looking for excuses to strike it."

On the American side, Jake Sullivan, advisor to President-elect Joe Biden for national security, said that Iran's ballistic missile program must be negotiated in order to return to the nuclear deal.

He added that the actions of the Donald Trump administration towards Iran have not made America safer, and that Tehran is closer to possessing a nuclear weapon than it was a year ago.

He believed that Iran "continues to provoke" and that his country will view every threat posed by Tehran.