Funeral processions to honourQassem Soleimani, head of Iran's elite Quds Force who was killed in a US air strike in Baghdad, have begun in the Iranian city of Ahvaz early on Sunday, hours after his remains arrived from Iraq.
Soleimani was killed along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi), an Iran-backed umbrella organisation comprising several militias. Several other people were also killed in Friday's attack.
The move by the US has drawn worldwide condemnation from leaders and officials who fear that tensions in the region could escalate drastically. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that "a harsh retaliation is waiting".
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites "very hard" if Iran attacked US citizens or assets.
Sunday, January 5:
Iran summons Swiss envoy over Trump remarks
Iran summoned the Swiss envoy representing US interests in Tehran to protest against Trump saying Washington would target Iranian sites if Tehran attacks Americans or US assets in retaliation to the killing of Soleimani.
Israeli PM says Trump 'worthy of all appreciation'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump was "worthy of all appreciation" for ordering the killing of Soleimani.
In an address to his cabinet, Netanyahu said Soleimani "initiated, planned and carried out many terror attacks" in the Middle East and beyond.
Netanyahu said Israel stood alongside the US in its current campaign against Iran.
Iraq parliament to meet in emergency session
Iraq's parliament was set to convene an extraordinary session during which lawmakers would reportedly push for a vote on a resolution requiring the government to request the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.
"There is no need for the presence of American forces after defeating Daesh (ISIL)," said Ammar al-Shibli, a Shia lawmaker and member of the parliamentary legal committee, according to Reuters news agency.
"We have our own armed forces which are capable of protecting the country," he said.
Around 5,000 US troops remain in Iraq, most of them in an advisory capacity.
Despite decades of enmity between Iran and the US, Iran-backed militia and US troops fought side by side during Iraq's 2014-2017 war against ISIL.
Remains of Soleimani, al-Muhandis, sent to Iran for DNA tests
Iraq's Iran-backed PMF said that some remains of Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader al-Muhandis were sent to Iran for DNA tests to identify their corpses.
In a statement, the PMF said that the bodies were torn to pieces and mangled by the explosion following the US strike near Baghdad's international airport on Friday.
It said the test will take few days after which the remains of al-Muhandis will be brought back to Iraq for burial in the holy Shia city of Najaf.
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