イラン司令官殺害から１年　イラクで大規模集会、報復訴え

【バグダッドＡＦＰ＝時事】イランのガセム・ソレイマニ司令官とイラク人のアブ・マフディ・ムハンディス副司令官が米軍の無人機攻撃により殺害されてから1年となった3日、イラクで数千人規模の追悼集会が行われた。参加者らは「アメリカにノーを」と声をそろえ、報復を訴えた。（写真はイラクの首都バグダッドで、ソレイマニ司令官とムハンディス副司令官のポスター前に立つ戦闘員）
　集会が開かれたイラクの首都バグダッド中心部、タハリール広場には、多くが黒い服を着た親イランの支持者らが集まった。支持者らは英雄視するソレイマニ氏らに追悼の意を表した上で、イラクのムスタファ・カディミ首相を臆病者と呼び、「アメリカ人のスパイ」と非難した。２日夜には殺害現場となった場所に数千人が集まり司令官らを追悼。殺害から１年の節目に合わせてここ数日、イラン各地のほかシリア、レバノン、イエメンなど他国の支持者らも追悼行事を行った。
　米軍は昨年１月３日、バグダッドの国際空港近くで車両２台を攻撃し、ソレイマニ司令官、ムハンディス副司令官のほか８人を殺害。これにより昨年初頭、米国とイランは戦争の寸前にまで達した。
　イランで「殉職者」とされるソレイマニ氏は、同国で肖像画や銅像が飾られているほか、同氏をたたえる歌やテレビシリーズができるなどさまざまな形で追悼されてきた。３日には、同氏の幼少期や青年時代をつづった自伝と、同氏を記念した郵便切手がイラン政府により公開された。
　イラクではこれまで、イランの支援を受ける強力な親イラン武装勢力の連合体「人民動員隊」が、かつて同隊を統率したムハンディス副司令官とソレイマニ司令官を追悼する過激な集会を行ってきた。ソレイマニ氏はかつて、イラン革命防衛隊の海外作戦部隊のトップを務めていた。人民動員隊はイラクの防衛組織に正式に統合したものの、同国のカディミ政権に対立する姿勢を強めており、３日にバグダッドで行われた集会は人民動員隊の勢力アピールの場となった。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/01/04-11:26）

Thousands of Iraqi mourners Sunday condemned the American occupiers, one year after a US drone strike killed Iran's revered commander Qasem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
The anniversary of their deaths in Baghdad -- which brought arch enemies the United States and Iran to the brink of war -- was also marked in Iran and by supporters in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere.
The lead-up to the commemorations of the Shiite Muslim commanders has again heightened regional tensions in the weeks before US President Donald Trump, who ordered the killings, leaves the White House.
In Iraq, the powerful pro-Iranian Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network which Muhandis commanded has led the sombre and angry vigils for him and General Soleimani, who headed the foreign operations arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Thousands of black-clad mourners Saturday night converged at the spot near Baghdad's international airport where the US hit the two vehicles and killed Soleimani, Muhandis and eight other men.
By candlelight, they honoured their martyrs and condemned the American great Satan at the site where nearby walls are still pockmarked by shrapnel.
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.
The Hashed -- factions of which Washington has blamed for rocket strikes against its embassy and troops in Iraq -- has increasingly challenged Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, whom it accuses of having helped plot the drone strikes.
This has brought to the boil once more tensions in the war-battered and politically fragile country which the United States invaded in 2003, and which is struggling with economic crisis amid low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic.
- War of words -
With more mass gatherings planned Sunday at Baghdad's central Tahrir Square, Ahmed Assadi, one of the leaders of Hashed's parliamentary bloc, vowed: Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, we will go out by the millions to brandish your portrait on Tahrir.
Giant posters of Soleimani and Muhandis were hung up above the iconic square, which in late 2019 became the centre of large anti-government protests, from an abandoned building known as the Turkish restaurant.
Amid the tensions, Iraqis, and many in the wider region, are nervously watching for any signs of escalation before Trump leaves the White House on January 20.
Trump confronted decades-old foe Iran by withdrawing in 2018 from its nuclear deal with world powers and launching a maximum pressure campaign to further economically punish and isolate the country.
Trump recently tweeted that the US was hearing the chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq, and warned that if one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over.
In recent days, US B-52 bombers have flown across the region for the second time in less than a month but, in what some read as a sign of deescalation, Washington has also reportedly ordered its Nimitz aircraft carrier to leave the Gulf.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami vowed Saturday to respond to any action the enemy takes, as he visited a strategic Gulf island.
We would respond with a reciprocal, decisive and strong blow to whatever action the enemy would take against us, Salami warned.
Iran and the United States -- bitter foes since the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution and the US embassy hostage crisis in Tehran -- have twice come to the brink of war since June 2019, most recently after Soleimani's killing.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday accused Trump of aiming to fabricate a pretext for war, after the president blamed Tehran for a December 20 rocket strike on the US embassy in Baghdad.
In the war of words, Zarif on Saturday also claimed that, in Iraq, Israeli agent-provocateurs are plotting attacks against Americans (to put) Trump in a bind with a fake casus belli.