[[{"content_id":"3358","domain_id":"0","lang_id":"en","portal_id":"2","owner_id":"83","user_id":"2","view_accesslevel_id":"0","edit_accesslevel_id":"0","delete_accesslevel_id":"0","editor_id":"0","content_title":"Remains of Gen. Soleimani arrive in Iran for cross-country funeral","content_number":"","content_date_event":"2020-01-05 18:42:42","content_summary":"The remains of anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and his companions have arrived in Iran from neighboring Iraq where they were assassinated by the US early Friday. \r\n\r\nA massive funeral procession was held early Sunday in Ahvaz, the main city ...","content_summary_fill":"0","content_body":"The remains of anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and his companions have arrived in Iran from neighboring Iraq where they were assassinated by the US early Friday. \r\n\r\nA massive funeral procession was held early Sunday in Ahvaz, the main city in Iran's eight-year battle against the forces of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein which shaped Soleimani's future as an austere military tactician.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nPeople hold posters of Iranian commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraq's anti-terror\r\n\r\nfigurehead Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at a funeral procession in Ahvaz, southern Iran on Jan. 5, 2020. (Photo by Tasnim) \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nFrom Ahvaz, the cortege headed to the holy city of Mashhad in Iran’s northeast. From there, the convoy will arrive in Tehran on Monday and finally go to his hometown Kerman in the southeast for burial on Tuesday.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTagging along are the remains of Gen. Soleimani's trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq’s anti-terror Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), being carried for DNA testing in Tehran because some pieces have possibly been mixed up. After testing, Muhandis' remains will be returned to Najaf for burial. \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nBoth Soleimani and Muhandis were popular figureheads in helping squelch an ominous rise of Daesh which once came as close as 30 km to Baghdad, while the US withdrew troops from Iraq and looked on.\r\n\r\nImages of the Iranian commander along with Iraqi fighters at frontlines as the ferocious battle against Daesh terrorists went on are endearingly etched in the minds of many Iraqis.\r\n\r\nTheir massive turnout in Saturday’s funeral is both a testimony to Soleimani’s popularity among many Iraqis and a message to the US which made its stay in the Arab country more unwelcome with the extrajudicial killing, observers said.\r\n\r\nIn all, 10 people -- five Iraqis and five Iranians -- were assassinated in the US strike on their motorcade just outside Baghdad airport as Gen. Soleimani’s flight arrived from Syria, leading to speculations that the Israeli intelligence might have played a role.\r\n\r\nThe assassination has triggered a wave of outrage among Iranians and Iraqis, and further aligned the two neighbors with vociferous calls for revenge for what they view as "state terrorism."\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nPeople rally at a funeral procession for Iranian commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraq's anti-terror figurehead Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Ahvaz, southern Iran on Jan. 5, 2020. (Photo by Tasnim) \r\n\r\nHundreds of thousands of people, chanting "Death to America and "Death to Israel," held funeral processions for the two commanders and their companions in Baghdad and the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf on Saturday.\r\n\r\nPrime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Iraqi commander Hadi al-Amiri, the top candidate to succeed Muhandis, senior cleric Ammar al-Hakim and other important figures accompanied the the large crowd of mourners.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nHuge crowds of Iraqi mourners join Gen. Soleimani’s funeral procession\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\nHundreds of thousands of Iraqis have joined the funeral procession for Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi anti-terror forces chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\nAmeri and many other Iraqi leaders have called on all factions in Iraq to unite and expel foreign troops.\r\n\r\nMany Iraqis condemned the US assassination, praising General Soleimani for his role in defeating Daesh terrorists who seized large swathes of north and central Iraq in 2014.\r\n\r\n"It is necessary to take revenge on the murderers. The martyrs got the prize they wanted - the prize of martyrdom,” said one of the Iraqi marchers, Ali al-Khatib.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nGen. Soleimani, 62, was Tehran’s pre-eminent military commander and - as head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s overseas Quds Force - the architect of Iran’s anti-terror campaign and fight against American and Israeli hegemony in the Middle East. \r\n\r\nOn Friday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei vowed to retaliate and said Gen. Soleimani’s assassination would intensify Iran's resistance to the United States and Israel.","content_html":"
The remains of anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and his companions have arrived in Iran from neighboring Iraq where they were assassinated by the US early Friday.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n A massive funeral procession was held early Sunday in Ahvaz, the main city in Iran's eight-year battle against the forces of the\u00a0former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein which shaped Soleimani's future as an\u00a0austere military tactician.<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n\n People hold posters of Iranian commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraq's anti-terror<\/p>\n\n figurehead\u00a0\u00a0Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at a funeral procession in Ahvaz, southern Iran on Jan. 5, 2020. (Photo by Tasnim)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n From Ahvaz, the cortege headed to the holy city of Mashhad in Iran\u2019s northeast. From there, the convoy will arrive\u00a0in Tehran on Monday and finally go to his hometown Kerman in the southeast for burial on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n Tagging along are the remains of Gen. Soleimani's trenchmate\u00a0Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis,\u00a0the deputy commander of Iraq\u2019s anti-terror Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), being carried for DNA testing in Tehran because some pieces\u00a0have possibly been mixed up. After testing, Muhandis' remains will be returned to Najaf for burial.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n Both Soleimani and Muhandis were popular figureheads in helping squelch an ominous rise of Daesh which once came as close as 30 km to Baghdad, while the US withdrew troops from Iraq and looked on.<\/p>\n\n Images of the Iranian commander along with Iraqi fighters at frontlines as the ferocious battle against Daesh terrorists went on are endearingly etched in the minds of many Iraqis.<\/p>\n\n Their massive turnout in Saturday\u2019s funeral is both a testimony to Soleimani\u2019s popularity among many Iraqis and a message to the US\u00a0which made its stay in the Arab country more unwelcome with the extrajudicial killing, observers said.<\/p>\n\n In all, 10 people -- five Iraqis and five Iranians -- were assassinated in the US\u00a0strike on their motorcade just outside Baghdad airport as Gen. Soleimani\u2019s flight arrived from Syria, leading to speculations that the Israeli intelligence might have played a role.<\/p>\n\n The assassination\u00a0has triggered a wave of outrage among Iranians and Iraqis, and further aligned the two neighbors with\u00a0vociferous calls for revenge for what they view as \"state terrorism.\"<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n\n People rally at a funeral procession for Iranian commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraq's anti-terror figurehead\u00a0\u00a0Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Ahvaz, southern Iran on Jan. 5, 2020. (Photo by Tasnim)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n Hundreds\u00a0of thousands of people, chanting \"Death to America and \"Death to Israel,\" held funeral processions for the two commanders and their companions\u00a0in Baghdad and the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Iraqi commander Hadi al-Amiri, the top candidate to succeed Muhandis, senior cleric Ammar al-Hakim and other important figures accompanied the the large crowd of mourners.<\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n