Iraqi President praises role of 'martyr' Qasim Soleimani in fight against ISIS

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi President Barham Salih on Sunday offered his condolences to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani over the US killing of Iranian general Qasim Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad.

Salih spoke with Rouhani on the phone to offer his “warmest condolences on the martyrdom of Hajji Qasim Soleimani and his comrades,” noting the Quds Force commander’s “high role in supporting Iraq in the fight against the Da’esh [ISIS] terrorist organization and victory over” the group.

The Iraqi President also stressed to Rouhani the importance of “self-restraint and wisdom” as Iran-US tensions grow. The Iranian President, in turn, thanked Salih and assured continued efforts to develop bilateral ties further.

The US operation that killed Soleimani – the former chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force – came on early Friday. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the head of the Tehran-aligned Kata’ib Hizbollah (KH) militia in Iraq, was also killed.

Read More: US strike kills Qasim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis

Iraqi officials, including Salih, have roundly condemned the US strike, which took place just outside the Baghdad International Airport after Soleimani met up with Muhandis. Days earlier, the Iraqi officials had condemned militiamen and supporters after they attempted to storm the US embassy in the Iraqi capital, torching parts of it.

Read More: Top Iraqi officials condemn attempts to storm US embassy in Baghdad

On Saturday, thousands of people in Baghdad participated in a funeral procession for the two generals, with major government officials present, including Iraq’s outgoing Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi.

The caretaker prime minister also ordered a national three-day mourning period starting Saturday, the second time within a week he has done so. The earlier one, which began on Wednesday, was to honor dozens of KH fighters that were killed three days before in US airstrikes near the town of al-Qaim, near the Syrian border.

The current spike in aggressive US-Iranian rhetoric and military action has eclipsed the last uptick over the summer when Iran carried out a series of attacks against oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and shot down an American drone. Riyadh and Washington have also accused Tehran of being the perpetrator of a strike on major Saudi oil facilities, late last year. 

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany