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A member of Iraqi Parliament is calling for a memorial of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and the other victims of the US drone strike, to be erected at the Baghdad International Airport.
وزير الثقافة العراقي (من حصة ميليشيا عصائب أهل الحق) يوافق على طلب مقدم من النائب علي جاسم الحميداوي (تيار الحكمة) لبناء نُصب تذكاري في مطار بغداد الدولي (موقع الحادث) لقاسم سليماني وابو مهدي المهندس ومن كان معهم. #insm_iq pic.twitter.com/pUS1oycLXf
— Hamzoz ?? حمزوز (@Hamzoz) January 12, 2020
“The Iraqi Minister of Culture (from the faction of the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq group) approves a request submitted by Representative Ali Jassem Al-Hamidawi (Al-Hikma faction) to build a memorial at Baghdad International Airport of Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and those who were with them.”
Naturally, critics took the chance to claim that the MP was an Iranian puppet and was attempting to further Tehran’s malign agenda.
Version 1: Elected Iraqi government approves of a statue of Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad airport.
Version 2: a proxy of Iran who heads the Ministry of Culture approved of a request presented by a pro-Iran member of parliament to build a statue of their former boss at the airport. https://t.co/OuFBAqVDsI
— Hassan Hassan (@hxhassan) January 13, 2020
Just days earlier, the Council of Representatives’ Committee of Martyrs, Victims, and Political Prisoners called for the Baghdad International Airport to be renamed in honor of Abu Mahdi Muhandis, the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units deputy commander, who also died in the drone strike.
“The struggle and sacrifice of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and his colleagues are obvious and the supreme leader has given them the surname of heroes of victorious battles,” the communiqué by Committee Chairman Abd Ila al-Naili said.
“So, we are calling for the replace Baghdad airport’s name with the name of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis International Airport.”
Syrian Minister of Defense, Gen. Ali Ayoub, presented the Medal of the Hero of the Syrian Arab Republic, which President Bashar Al-Assad granted to the martyr General Qassem Soleimani. The medal was posthumously awarded and accepted by the Minister of Defense and the commander of the Iranian Armed Forces, Brigadier Amir Hatimi.
General Ayoub spoke during a bilateral meeting with Brigadier Hatami in Tehran about General Soleimani and praised “his great sacrifices, his role and his standing with the Syrian people in the fight against terrorism, indicating that his name will remain immortalized in the memory of history.”
“With the sacrifice of General Soleimani, the path of resistance remains open because today’s resistance has become an ideology and discourse in the region.
If Qassem Soleimani and his comrades didn’t help the fighters of the Syrian armed forces and people, ISIS’s dominance in the region would be inevitable; from Europe to Asia and the US; their defeat was a result of their sacrifice,” he added.
“He fought for peace; his power and belief alone were a deterrent to the excesses and hegemony of Western powers and the Zionist regime,” General Ayoub said.
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