Tehran: Thousands of people took to the streets of Tehran on Monday to pay homage to Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone attack last week in Iraq.
The participants, carrying photos of Soleimani, descended on the iconic Engelab (Revolution) Square in central Tehran early Monday morning, reports the city-based Press TV.
While addressing the crowd, General Soleimani’s daughter, Zeinab, said: “The name Haj Qasem Soleimani is now shaking the nest of Zionism, Takfirism, and the order of hegemony.
“America and Zionism should know that my father’s martyrdom has awakened more human instincts on the resistance front. It will make life a nightmare for them and shatter their spider houses.”
The 63-year-old Soleimani’s remains arrived in Iran on Sunday, following funeral processions the previous day in Iraq.
In Iran, the first procession took place in Ahvaz, the main city in the country’s eight-year battle against the forces of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein which shaped Soleimani’s future as an austere military tactician, the Tehran-based Press TV said in a report.
Later, his remains were to taken to the holy city of Mashhad and finally it reached Tehran.
Soleimani’s funeral will be held on Wednesday in this hometown Kerman.
The January 3 attack killed the top commander, his son-in-law and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Front (PMF), and eight other people.
Muhandis’s remains were also flown to Iran where it will undergo DNA testing.
Soleimani, 63, was the elite Quds Force chief in charge of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operations outside Iran, and has been on the ground in Syria and Iraq supervising militias backed by Tehran.
The Quds Force holds sway over a large number of militias across the region ranging from Lebanon to Syria and Iraq.
Ms Kalinga