Iraq lodges complaint to UN chief, UNSC over US assassination of Lt. Gen. Soleimani, Muhandis

Iraq says it has lodged a formal complaint to the UN chief and the UN Security Council (UNSC) over the US assassination of Iran's top military commander, Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday that it had submitted two letters of complaint to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the UNSC, asking the world body to condemn the assassination of General Soleimani and Muhandis in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport in the early hours of Friday.

According to the statement, the complaint is about “American attacks and aggression on Iraqi military positions and the assassination of Iraqi and allied high-level military commanders on Iraqi soil.”

The assassination was “a dangerous breach of Iraqi sovereignty and of the terms of US presence in Iraq,” the ministry added.

Four other Iranians as well as four Iraqis accompanying them were also martyred in the US strike.

The Pentagon said in a statement on Friday that American President Donald Trump had personally ordered the US military to assassinate the top Iranian commander.

Iran Leader vows 'harsh revenge' following assassination of Gen. Soleimani

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says a harsh revenge will be taken against the criminals who assassinated IRGC Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem Soleimani.

Following Soleimani's assassination, Ayatollah Khamenei said those who assassinated the IRGC Quds Force commander must await a harsh revenge, noting that the “cruelest people on earth” assassinated the “honorable” commander who “courageously fought for years against the evils and bandits of the world.”

Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has also said that a harsh vengeance “in due time and right place” awaited the criminals behind Soleimani’s assassination.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Iraq’s Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, along with the Arab country’s president, Barham Salih, have already denounced the deadly airstrike as a flagrant breach of Iraq’s sovereignty and a sheer violation of international agreements.

Iraqi lawmakers approve bill to expel US forces from country

The lawmakers, in line with their national and regulatory responsibilities, singed the four-point draft.

Separately on Sunday, Iraqi lawmakers unanimously approved a bill, demanding the withdrawal of all US-led foreign military forces from the Arab country.

The legislators, citing Articles 59 and 109 of the Constitution and in line with their national and regulatory responsibilities as representatives to safeguard the security and sovereignty of Iraq, used an extraordinary parliamentary session to vote on the four-point resolution requiring the government to press Washington and its allies to withdraw their troops from Iraq.

Later on Sunday, Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said the parliamentary resolution to end the presence of foreign troops in the country did not go far enough, calling on local and foreign militia groups to unite, stressing that an ongoing security agreement with Washington should be cancelled immediately.

The prominent cleric also called for the immediate closure of the US embassy in Iraq and the expulsion of the American troops in a humiliating manner.

Sadr also said that communication with the US government should be criminalized.

Who was General Qassem Soleimani?

Major General Qassem Soleimani played a major role in defending Iran and assisting regional countries against terrorism.

The US, backed by Britain, invaded Iraq in 2003 claiming that the former regime of Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons, however, were ever found.

The invaders withdrew from Iraq, after nearly nine years of a military campaign that cost tens of thousands of Iraqi lives.

A US-led military coalition, however, returned to the Arab country in 2014, when the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group unleashed a campaign of destruction there.

Widespread reports said the Washington-led operations largely spared the terrorists and led, instead, to civilian deaths and inflicted damage on the Iraqi infrastructure.

Iraq’s army troops, backed by volunteer PMU forces, managed to liberate all Daesh-held areas, thanks in part to effective military advisory assistance from neighboring Iran.

Baghdad declared the end of the anti-Daesh campaign back in 2017.

Lieutenant General Soleimani was an international figure who played a leading role in promoting security in regional countries, particularly in Iraq and Syria. Both commanders were admired by Muslim nations for eliminating the US-sponsored Daesh terrorist group in the region.

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