Regional Commemorations Renew Popular Faith to Gen. Soleimani’s Path

Iraq, where the two commanders were assassinated on January 3, 2020, in recent days hosted various activities in a number of cities. The capital Baghdad and the birthplace of al-Muhandis, Basra, were scene to the largest gatherings to renew faith to the path of these two martyrs. Other cities also witnessed commemorative ceremonies. 

The Iranian embassy in Baghdad held a ceremony on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the martyrdom of General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, which was attended by a number of senior figures and Iraqi political factions. 

Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadegh, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, said in this ceremony that creating peace, security and stability in the region were the “two main goals and priorities of these martyrs.” 

Al-Ghadir television reported that a delegation of scholars from the liberated areas held a pilgrimage in the Wadi Salam cemetery and a memorial gathering at the tomb of al-Muhandis. The people of Basra also honored the memory of these two martyrs with a ceremony.

The media center of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) organized a commemorative ceremony on Saturday with the presence of a large number of political leaders, security commanders, and tribal chiefs in Baghdad. 

A number of senior and prominent officials and politicians including PMF chief Faleh al-Fayadh and and ex-PM Nouri al-Maliki delivered speeches. 

Faleh Al-Fayadh said that General Soleimani and Al-Muhandis had “high sincerity.” He added that Iran played an important role in supporting Iraq in the war with the ISIS terrorist group. 

Al-Maliki, for his part, described the assassination of the top commanders of battle against ISIS as the “collapse of all the values of the international community”, stressing that the US president’s supervision of this crime at the Baghdad airport reduced the UN Security Council to a puppet. 

“A nation without martyrs is an empty and weak nation, and the [life of] great men should end in martyrdom, because they provide a strong motivation for the nations to remain on the path of principles and values. Martyr Soleimani and his comrade Martyr al-Muhandis were always on our side on the fronts lines,” he said. 

From Lebanon to Nigeria 

In addition to Iraq, other countries organized similar ceremonies. Lebanese Hezbollah held a ceremony attended by political and cultural figures. Osama Hamdan, a senior leader of Hamas, Maher Hamoud, the head of Global Union of Resistance Scholars, and Nabil Qaouk, the deputy head of Executive Council of Hezbollah, addressed the event. 

Recalling the sacrifices of the resistance commanders, Qaouk pointed to the current situation of developments in Gaza. He said: “The only thing the Israeli enemy can do is massacring the innocent civilians and destroying the houses in Gaza, but it has not reached any of its stated goals so far. The occupiers could not destroy Hamas and realized that their goal was nothing more than a dream. The Zionists have also been unable to return even one of their captives without making concessions.”

Sheikh Hammoud, for his part, maintained that the era of resistance victories has begun and what is happening in Gaza is not a simple matter and we have the right to be proud of our heroes in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. We also emphasize the unity of our position and strategic vision in the certainty of Israel’s collapse.” 

Similar ceremonies were held in Syrian towns of Nubl and‌ Zahraa, with participants commemorating the resistance martyrs and appreciating their endeavors. 

Tunisia was another country hosting such a ceremony. The ‘Tunisia Against Normalization’ movement on Saturday marked the anniversary of the two commanders. A number of official and partisan figures attended the ceremony. 

Salahaddin al-Masri, the head of Tunisian Society for Tolerance told Al-Alam news network that what is going on today is a continuation of decades-long sacrifices. 

“Haj Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mehdi Al-Muhandis fought for several decades until today’s resistance has reached this level of power. The entire Islamic ummah from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq to Yemen and Palestine has a wide-ranging and active presence on the resistance front,” al-Masri said. 

The ceremony hosted bands singing resistance songs.

Abed al-Zariee, a Tunisian political researcher, said that the “resistance against the Zionist imperialist project of America is a continuous resistance over many years. Many men were found in this path who laid the cornerstone of the continuation of the resistance so that it gains the necessary strength and ability to win over the Zionist project.” 

Official figures from the embassies of Iran, Syria and Palestine attended the ceremony along with Tunisian political figures. They highlighted the prominent role of Iran in supporting the resistance. Mubarakeh Brahmi, one of the leaders of the Popular Movement Party in Tunisia, maintained that no one can deny the role of the Islamic Republic of Iran in supporting the resistance movements, be it financial support, arms, or engineering and political support.” 

Also, on Friday night, people in the Nigerian city of Kano gathered to commemorate General Soleimani and Seyyed Razi Mousavi. They held posters of General Soleimani beside those of Sayyed Razi Mousavi, another Iranian anti-terror commander who was assassinated last week in Syria by Israeli regime. 

Sheikh Sanousi Abdel Qadder, a senior member of Islamic Movement in Nigeria, said: “The assassination of Iranian advisers by the United States and Israel has not weakened the Axis of the Resistance, but the resistance has become stronger than ever. When the United States assassinated General Qassem Soleimani and martyred him, they thought that the Axis would become weaker, but the Palestinian resistance humiliated the Zionist terrorist regime with the Al-Aqsa Storm Operation and showed that the resistance is still strong.” 

Also, the February 14 Coalition of Tunisia described General Soleimani and Al-Muhandis as the factors of victory of ISIS and its devastating project in Syria and Iraq, adding: “These two highly honorable martyrs were influential in creating resistance capabilities in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Yemen and consolidating the unity of the branches of the Axis of Resistance, and this issue was clearly shown in the Aqsa Storm Operation that shook the Zionist regime.” 

The American officials thought that with assassination of General, the Axis of Resistance will be deleted forever from memory of the people in the region, but the more the time goes by, the more the role of the resistance commanders in foiling the imperialist conspiracies of the US and Israeli regime becomes clear, and the supporters of resistance in the region every year commemorate the ‘commanders of victory” and renew their faith to their thought and path. 

The insistence of the resistance leaders on taking revenge for this horrific assassination crime comes as Iranian officials have repeatedly asserted that the revenge option remains on the table and they will not rest until punishment of Trump and other perpetrators. The magnificent commemoration of General Soleimani and his companions in regional countries shows that the sapling that was planted with his hands has now grown into a fruitful and strong tree that has strikes horror into the hearts of the enemies.