Thousands of mourners in Iraq converged at a spot near Baghdad’s international airport on Sunday, where a year ago the US hit vehicles carrying Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and his lieutenant Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The drone strike killed both Soleimani and Muhandis, along with eight other men.

Clad in black and holding candles, the group honoured the ‘martyrs’ and condemned the ‘American occupiers’, calling America ‘Satan’ in their loud chants. 

“We tell America and the enemies of Islam that they can inflict the greatest sacrifices on us, but we will continue to resist despite the bloodshed,” said Hashed supporter Batul Najjar, as per AFP reports.

The anniversary of the commanders’ deaths was also commemorated in Iran and by supporters in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.

According to AFP, more mass gatherings are planned for Sunday at Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square, with large posters of Solemani and Muhandis hung above it. Ahmed Assadi, one of the leaders of Hashed’s parliamentary bloc, told AFP, “Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, we will go out by the millions to brandish your portrait on Tahrir”.

In late 2019, an abandoned building in the square, that was previously a Turkish restaurant, became the nucleus of widespread anti-government protests.

Iran and the United States have been embittered adversaries, ever since the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution and the following US embassy hostage crisis in Tehran. Their vitriolic relationship has worsened even further after President Donald Trump, who ordered the killings last year, came to power.

The two countries have come to the brink of war twice since June 2019, most recently after Soleimani’s killing.

The build-up to the commemorations of the anniversary of two the deaths has also heightened regional tensions in the war-torn and economically fragile country.