Iran vowed “harsh retaliation” for a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad’s airport that martyred a top Iranian general who had been the key figure in defeating Daesh and other Takfiri terrorists in the Middle East.
The assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, marks a dangerous escalation in U.S. adventurism in the Middle East.
The United States urged American citizens to flee Iraq “immediately” following the Friday airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport that martyred Gen. Soleimani and nine others. The State Department said the embassy in Baghdad, which was attacked by angry Iraqis earlier this week, is closed and all consular services have been suspended.
Around 5,200 American troops are based in Iraq, where they purportedly train Iraqi forces and help to combat Daesh, but have repeatedly been reported to be cooperating with and assisting Takfiri terrorists.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned that “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the U.S. after the airstrike, calling Gen. Soleimani the “international face of resistance.”
Ayatollah Khamenei declared three days of public mourning and appointed Maj. Gen. Esmail Qaani, Gen. Soleimani’s deputy, to replace him as head of the Quds Force.
In a statement, the Leader said the “cruelest people on earth” assassinated the “honorable” commander who “courageously fought for years against the evils and bandits of the world.”
His demise will not stop his mission, but the criminals who have the blood of General Soleimani and other martyrs of the Thursday night attack on their hands must await a harsh revenge, the Leader added.
“Martyr Soleimani is an international figure of the Resistance, and all the devotees of Resistance are now his avengers,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
“All the friends and foes must know that the path of Jihad of the Resistance will continue with double motivation, and a definite victory awaits those who fight in this auspicious path,” the Leader said.
“The demise of our selfless and dear general is bitter, but the continued fight and achievement of the final victory will make life bitterer for the murderers and criminals,” he added.
President Hassan Rouhani called the assassination a “heinous crime” and vowed his country would “take revenge.”
Gen. Soleimani had just disembarked from a plane arriving from either Syria or Lebanon, a senior Iraqi security official said. The blast tore his body to pieces along with that of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of the the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq. A senior politician said Soleimani’s body was identified by the ring he wore.
The attack comes at the start of a year in which Trump faces both a Senate trial following his impeachment by Congress and a re-election campaign. It marks a potential turning point in the Middle East and represents a drastic change in low-key standoff between Tehran and Washington.
The spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) General Ramezan Sharif said the U.S.’ “momentary pleasure” after assassinating General Soleimani will be short-lived, and will soon turn into lamentation.
The IRGC, he said, is going to open a new chapter from now on and the front of resistance is going to set out a new starting point.
Secretary General of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah weighed in, saying resistance forces across the world bear the responsibility to punish those behind the assassination.
“Meting out the just punishment to these criminal assassins, which are the worst criminals of the world, will be the responsibility and task of all resistance fighters worldwide,” the Hezbollah chief said in a statement on Friday.
Nasrallah said the Lebanese resistance movement will continue the path of the assassinated commander and that Washington will fail in achieving its goals with these “big crimes”.
“We who stayed by his side will follow in his footsteps and strive day and night to accomplish his goals,” Nasrallah said “We will carry a flag on all battlefields and all fronts and we will step up the victories of the ‘axis of resistance’ with the blessing of his pure blood,” he added.
The “resistance axis” is used to refer to an emerging front in the Middle East which includes Iran, Syria and other regional countries and forces such as Hezbollah, which are opposed to the U.S. and Israeli hegemony over the region.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a message to Ayatollah Khamenei, saying the late Iranian commander’s support for Syria will always be remembered by his nation.
Assad denounced the assassination of Soleimani as a “criminal act” serving “Zionist and imperialist designs,” adding his martyrdom would strengthen the resistance axis.
The Syrian government said the attack is “a serious escalation of the situation”, adding the U.S. has lately been resorting to “the methods of criminal gangs.”
Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement denounced the assassination as a war crime against the entire Muslim community, the axis of resistance and the Palestinian cause.
“Washington thought it could get rid of General Soleimani by assassinating him, but one can rest assured that his blood will chase the Americans more than ever,” it said in a statement.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, also condemned the attack as it he hailed Gen. Soleimani for dedicating himself to the Palestinian cause and support for the axis of resistance.
“Undoubtedly, his great role in this path made him a favorite target for America and the Zionist enemy,” it said.
“We are certain that the blood of Hajj Qassem Soleimani will be a curse on his assassins and the Zionist occupation regime,” the group added.
The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, said General Soleimani long offered direct support to the Palestinian cause, and transferred a great deal of military and security expertise to the Palestinian resistance group.
“Today, we bid farewell to a combatant leader, who used to instill fear in the hearts of the U.S. and the Zionist entity. The axis of the resistance will neither be defeated nor shattered, but would rather increase its cohesion and strength in the face of Zionist-American projects,” its spokesman Abu Hamza said.
source: This article/news was published on Friday, 03 January 2020 on the http://kayhan.ir/en
